The Lost Prince of Haven
by Jetboard Kid
Summary: This is the story after the Untold story... Well kinda it overlaps a little. this is Jak 2 more from the kids point of vew mostly. better summary inside. hope you all like it. :
1. Chapter 1

The Lost Prince of Haven

**I own nothing, this is a fan fic.**

**Jet: Hello, I'm back with a new story, this one is pretty much Jak 2- but rather then it being with the angry teenage Jak being the main guy, we're seeing the story through the eyes of the innocent young Jak's point of view. This story takes place after the Untold Story.**

**Penny: So it picks up when Kor and the kid go and meet up with Jak after he gets out prison, right?**

**Jet: No, really it's going to overlap with the end of the Untold Story- meaning that really it's starting the night Erick (a.k.a ****Praxis) takes over Haven and the night that Damas is thrown out into the wasteland and… why don't I just start the story, just remember this is the kid's point of view, and just as a point out this first few chapter take place about three months before Jak breaks out. One more thing, WARNING if you haven't figured it out by now, THIS HAS SPOLERS. I think it goes without saying but I'm saying it any ways. So enjoy.**

Chapter 1: When Everything Changed.

It was late, at the Haven palace the Royal family walked down the hall. King Damas walked with his wife, Queen Molly next to him and in her arms she had their two year old son, prince Mar who was fast asleep, walking next to them was a small croca-dog pup. The small family was walking to Mar's room; it was the perfect end to a perfect day. But this moment was short lived because when the family turned the corner they found two guards waiting for them both with guns. Damas put his arm around Molly, "What's going on?" He asked.

The guards pointed their guns at the royal family, "Baron Praxis has ordered us to take you to him immediately."

"What?" Damas and Molly asked at the same time. The guards didn't say another word; they began to use their guns to get Damas and Molly to move, Mutt growled a little as he was also forced to move. Molly looked at her husband, "What is going on?" She whispered, careful not to let the guards hear her.

"I don't know." Damas said, also being careful not to let the guards hear him. Damas looked at the guards form the corner of his eye; there were only two of them, he looked back at Molly, "Be ready to run." He whispered.

"What?" Molly asked.

But Damas didn't tell her what he meant, instead he turned and grabbed hold of one of the guns and began to force one of the guards back. The other guard was about to aid his friend but a sudden unexpected hit to his middle took him off guard. Mutt had jumped and rammed the guard as hard as he could. All the commotion had woken Mar up and he was now crying. When Damas had forced the guard onto the floor, he looked back at Molly and Mar. He could hear more guards coming; he took Molly's hand and led her down the hall with Mutt following close behind. The family ran into a room and Damas shut and locked the door and for good measure they also hid in the closet. Molly began to try and calm Mar's cries, "It's okay Mar, don't cry. Everything is going to be okay." She looked at Damas once Mar had stopped crying, "What are we going to do?" Mar heard his mother ask. Poor Mar didn't know what was going on. Damas opened the door and then they walked out of the closet, he opened the door and then closed it again then he looked back at his wife and son. He started to talk about something that the two year old didn't understand. The young prince looked up at his mother, she was crying and he didn't know why. Molly put her son down, Mutt put his head under Mar's arm and sat next to him, "What do you mean 'you're not'?" Molly asked.

Mar saw his father take his mother in his arms, "Don't worry," he said, holding her close, "everything with be alright. I'll find you when this is all over, I promise."

She hid her face in his shoulder and clung to his shirt, "You will find us, won't you?"

Damas smiled at her weakly, "Molly you know that I would rather die than break a promise to you."

"That's what I'm afraid of." She said.

Mar didn't know why his mother was so upset, and where was his father going? It scared him; he walked over to his father and tugged on his pant leg, "Dad…" He said sadly.

Damas looked down and picked him up, "Hey, everything's okay, Mar. But listen, I have to go away for a little while. I don't know when I'll be back, but until I get back I need you do something for me." Mar just blinked; where was he going, when would he be back? "I need you to be brave and take care of your mother for me, okay?"

"Okay…" He said.

Damas looked at Mutt, "And I need you to keep both of them safe, alright Mutt?" Mutt barked in understanding. Damas just smiled then he handed Mar to Molly, giving her one last hug, "Don't be scared. No matter what happens, know that I love you and no matter what it takes I'll find you." He kissed her forehead. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and pressed her lips to his for just one last kiss. Neither of them wanted to pull away but the sound of guards approaching made them remember how much danger they all were in. They pulled apart then Mar watched his father walk back over to the door, Damas gave one last look at his family, Mar was about to cry, he didn't want his father to go. But then Damas looked away and ran out the door.

Mar reached after him wanting him to come back, Molly let Mar cling to her shoulder as she ran out the door and started to run the opposition direction that Damas had gone with Mutt following her. Mar got one last look at his father as he ran down the hall, "DAD!" He cried. Damas didn't turn around he just kept running, Mar began to cry.

Molly ran out of the palace and through Haven's streets, the city was in so much chaos that no one took notice that the Queen was running from her home with her son and pet or that the King was nowhere to be seen. But that fact was good for the one man in the city that didn't seem to be effected by the chaos that the Baron's coup had created; Count Veger, the head man of Haven's counsel was following the Queen to the slums, her son had been crying the whole way there so she stopped to try to calm him, and their pet stopped with them.

"It's okay Mar, don't be scared. Everything's going to be alright." Mar calmed down a little bit and looked at his mother with tear-filled eyes. "We have to hide right now, your father will come and find us later but you have to be brave now." She wiped the tears from his face, "And you have to be quiet, don't say anything, can you do that for me?" She asked.

Mar nodded and smiled at his mother, who smiled back at him. She was about to get moving again when Mutt began to bark. She looked to see what he was barking at and saw Veger walking up to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, Count Veger, thank the Precursors, what is going on? Is Damas alright?" She asked, putting her son down.

An evil smile stretched across Veger's face, "He's gone."

Molly looked like her whole world was falling apart, "Gone? No… -NO! He can't be gone. He can't be…" Mar looked up at his mother, what was going on? Why was she so upset, he knew they were talking about his father so why was she upset?

"I heard the Baron give the order myself." Veger said, taking pleasure in Molly's misery.

Mar held onto his mother's dress as he and Mutt hid behind her, "NO!" Molly screamed in agony.

Veger pulled out his gun from inside of his coat, "Now you have a few options, Queen Molly. You can give me your brat and live to suffer you're loss or I can kill you and take him from you."

"Wha- what do you want with Mar?"

Veger laughed, "I have plans for him."

Molly kept her son behind her and glared at Veger; if her husband was gone then she wasn't going to lose her son as well. "You'll never get him." She practically snarled. Mutt stood next to Mar growling at the ugly old man. Veger's grin intensified, his gun went off and Molly fell to the ground.

"MOM!" Mar cried as his mother fell to the ground, he ran to her and shook her shoulder as tears ran down his face again. Mutt also pawed at her, wanting her to get up as much as Mar did. Veger came and grabbed Mar's arms and began to pull him away from his mother. Mar tried to fight back but what chance did a two year old have? Molly couldn't do anything but lay there and watch as her blood spilled onto the city streets. Mutt was not about to just let this man take Mar away, the croca-dog jumped and bit Veger's hand forcing him to let go of the boy. Mutt looked at Mar and started to tug on his overalls, he knew that they had to get away; Mutt had been born on the streets and knew when to run. Veger held his bloody hand and looked at the boy and dog, he tried to grab the boy again but Mutt growled at him when he tried. Mar understood what Mutt was trying telling him; with one last look at his mother he followed Mutt down the street. He followed Mutt into a passing crowd. Mar didn't know it but at that same moment his father was being lead to an air train that would take him far way and the people in the crowd that the young prince had ran into would be joining him out in the wasteland, Mar would not see his father again for a long time and when they finally did meet again Mar would not even know who his father was.

Thanks to the crowd, Veger lost sight of the boy and the dog and they got away. Mar ran as fast as he could wiping his own tears off his face; he had to be brave because that was what his father had told him and he had to be quiet because that was what his mother had told him. But how was he going to be brave- what did that even mean? All the two year old wanted was his mother and father back; he wanted to be home in his warm bed. But he kept fallowing Mutt who led him into an ally; the small dog ran into a small hole. Mar didn't want to go into it; it was dark and after everything that happened the young boy was scared. Mutt crawled out of the hole and grabbed Mar's pant leg and pulled on it. Mar got the message and followed the dog in, it was dark inside the hole, Mar couldn't see anything the only light was from the small opening that they had just crawled though. Mar sat down with his back against the wall and cried. Mutt crawled onto his lap with his ears folded down and rubbed his head against the crying boy, Mar wrapped his arms around the dog's neck and buried his face in the fur of the only family he had left now. Strange sounds that Mar had never heard before filled the air; the sounds of people being taken from their homes and the sound of gun shots.

After a bit Mar fell asleep, Mutt stayed next to him letting the small boy use him as a pillow. His master had told him to keep Mar safe and that was what this loyal croca-dog was going to do, no matter what. The next morning Mar woke to a much quieter city. He was about to crawl out into the streets but Mutt grabbed his pant leg and wouldn't let him go, Mar looked at him and was about to tell the dog to let him go but for some reason he just didn't… he felt no urge to say anything. Mar just sat down with his back to the wall again and Mutt walked out of the hole. Mar looked at him and tried to follow but Mutt turned around and growled at him; Mar crawled back into the hole as Mutt walked away. Mar just sat there quietly, he wanted to go home, he wanted his father and mother. What had happened? Why was Mutt keeping him in here; it was cold and he was hungry. Yesterday his life was good but what had happened to change that? Where were his parents? There was nothing Mar could do but cry.

Mutt walked around the city looking for food, he found a small discarded bag and grabbed it. Mutt pulled it until he found a unguarded fruit stand; he began to put fruit into the bag. Croca-dogs could eat just about anything that elves could eat- so Mutt just grabbed anything he could and put it in the bag. Then he went looking for water; he found some bottles of the stuff, they were a little dented but aside from that that they were okay, Mutt put them into the bag and headed back to where he had left Mar.

Mar looked up when he heard the dog come in and got up. Mutt let go of the bag and Mar looked into it. Mar picked up an apple, but he just looked at it: usually his mother would cut it up into small pieces but she wasn't here. He looked at Mutt who was biting into another apple. Mar looked back at the red fruit in his hand and bit into it, it was hard but he did get a small piece off and ate it. Mar only ate about half of it before putting it down. He picked up a water bottle and looked at it, he shook it but the water wouldn't come out. Mutt looked at him and got up, he took the bottom of the bottle in his mouth and bit; he broke the bottle and let go. Mar put the end of the bottle that had water falling out to his mouth and drank, then he put the bottle down- Mutt pushed it over a little so the water wouldn't come out anymore. The prince pulled his knees up to his chest and just sat quietly, Mutt laid down next to him and looked up at him. Mar looked at him, and sadly smiled at him and scratched him behind the ears.

A week later Mutt was still keeping Mar in the room with the only door being the small hole in the wall. He left to go get food again but Mar was getting bored with just hiding there, he wanted to get out. Mutt had left again so Mar was alone; he crawled out of the hole- the sun light blinding him for a bit- he rubbed his eyes trying to get used to it. Then he started to walk around the city. He didn't know why but he just felt that something was wrong, he saw people walk past him. It was like he wasn't even there; he had never been ignored before. He just walked in the streets not knowing what to do, but then he heard a voice that he knew. He found where it was coming from but he didn't find what he thought he would, it was just a speaker. The recorded voice belonged to the Baron, Mar had no way of knowing that that man was the reason that he was alone- all he knew was the voice he was hearing belonged to someone that he knew. Mar sat next the speaker just listening to it, not understanding what it was saying and he didn't care… it was a voice he knew. Mar pulled his knees to his chest and put his head to his knees and just sat there.

A man saw the boy sitting there, this man was different from everyone in the city, he was a very short man, his hair (if it was hair- it looked more like a bush) had twigs though it and a good size log though the middle, the man also had on log shoes that made him look just a bit taller than he really was, but the most strange thing about the man was that his skin was green. The man walked up to the boy who heard him coming. Mar looked up at the man, got up and backed away from him a bit. The man held up his hands, "It's okay," he said, "I'm not going the hurt you. Can you tell me your name?" Mar hadn't said a word since the night that he had lost his parents. Really, he didn't think that he could speak any more. He just pointed to the amulet around his neck. The amulet was the seal of Mar, the symbol of Haven's royal family, the man looked at it and realized who this scared little boy was. He smiled at him and held out his hand, "Why don't you come with me, kid, I want to help you." Mar looked up at him and then took the man's hand and walked with him.

As they walked, Mar saw that every time a guard walked close the man would hide Mar behind him, hiding him from the guard. The two came to a dead end ally near the wall and the man led the boy down through a door that led to a flight of stairs that lead down to another door. The two of them walked through the door at the bottom of the stairs and it opened into what looked like a small room; there were four bunk beds near the door and a small table at the back of the room. There was a tall thin man, with think brown hair in dreadlocks, standing behind it talking with a very pretty blond woman. They looked up from the papers that covered the table, "Samos," The man with brown hair said, "where have you been? You know that you're one of the most wanted men in the city. The underground can't afford to lose you."

Samos smiled, "Oh Torn, I think I've found someone that the Baron wants to get his hands on more than me."

"Really?" The blond woman asked, "Who?"

Samos looked at Mar who was standing behind him, "Come on." He said taking the boy's hand and leading him over to the two taller elves.

Torn looked at the boy and then at Samos, "A kid?" He asked, starting to think that his leader was a bit crazy, "You think that the Baron would be more obsessed with finding a random kid over the finding the Shadow?" He looked back at the kid who was just looking up at him with big innocent blue eyes, "Are you sure that you weren't just looking for a playmate for your daughter?"

The blond woman just also looked at the boy but she saw something that Torn didn't, she saw the amulet around his neck, "Torn look," she pointed to the amulet, "this isn't a regular kid, it's the prince!"

Torn looked at the amulet and his eyes widened, he looked back at Samos, "Are you out of your mind?! This kids nothing but trouble!"

"He's just a toddler." The blond woman said.

Torn looked at her, "Tess think about it, if it wasn't for this kid then maybe our so called King would have been able to do his job and would have stopped the Baron before any of this happened." Torn walked to the side of the room and opened an old looking door and walked through it.

Samos and Tess just let him go; he would come around in time. They both knew that he had quit being a guard because he had seen what the Baron was doing to the prisoners in the fortress and they both knew that he blamed the young prince for taking up the King's time when the King should have been stopping the Baron. But no one else shared Torn's feeling for the prince, after all the boy was only two- it shouldn't have been a shock that the King had wanted to just be with him. But there just wasn't any point in trying to make Torn see that, he would get it in time. Samos looked at Tess, "Speaking of my daughter, did you take her to day care?" He asked Tess.

"Yes, you know she really wants you to be the one that takes her."

"I know but I just can't. If anyone found out that she's the daughter of the Shadow then she would be in just too much danger. She's barely a year old after all."

"I know but…" Mar had been listening to them but now he was bored and a bit tired so he walked over to the beds and climbed up onto on it and lied down and fell asleep.

Mutt walked back to the place he had left Mar but when he walked in he didn't see the boy, he barked which echoed a bit in the empty room. When Mar didn't come out he started to look for him in the room but there wasn't many places for him to hide. After he had looked everywhere that Mar could have hid a few times he ran back out into the streets and started to look for Mar. He ran down the streets and would growl and nearly bite anyone who tried to stop him. The poor dog was worried what could have happened, why would he just leave? He had to find him; it was his job to keep him safe.

Mar slept all day, Tess had left a little while ago to get Samos' daughter from day care and when she got back Mar was still asleep. Tess walked into the hideout with a very young girl with short blue-green hair and bright green eyes in her arms. Samos was at the table and once the small girl saw him she immediately wanted out of Tess' arms. Tess put her down and she ran to her father, "Daddy!" She yelled.

Samos looked at her as she hugged him, "Hello Keira." He said, running his hand though her hair, "Did you have a good day?" Keira just nodded then she looked over to the bed where Mar was sleeping. She walked over to him and was about to poke him when Samos stopped her, "Keira, let him sleep." She looked back at her father and walked back over to him, he took her out of the room and through the door as the young prince slept on.

Mar woke up a little later. He got out of bed, and walked to the door. He came to a long hallway that had several doors all leading to different rooms. He opened a door and found Torn sitting on a bed with his back to the door. Mar walked in and Torn didn't even look to see who was coming in, he just kept looking at something in his hands. Mar climbed up onto the bed and looked over Torn's shoulder and looked at the thing in his hand, it was a long dagger. Torn looked at Mar and then back at the dagger, "Hey kid…" He said sadly, "Look, I'm sorry that I've been blaming you for everything, it's not really your fault." He looked back at Mar who didn't really get what he was talking about, "You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" Mar just shook his head. Torn smiled a little at the innocent look in the boy's eyes. Mar reached for the dagger in Torn's hand. Torn held it out of the young boy's reaches, "Oh no, you don't. You're too young to play with this and this is just too important to me. He looked back at the dagger, "This was my father's and I just got it back." Mar sat down and looked up at him. "Years ago there was an attack on the city from these monsters called Metal-heads, they're horrible monsters. Your grandparents were lost in that attack, everyone knows that but they weren't the only ones that's died that day, my parents died that day too. I was very young when that happened, I was a bit older then you, but still… anyway, I went back into that part of the city recently and found my old house, what was left of it away, I went in and found some of the toys my brother and I use to play with but then I found where my parents' old room was and I found my dad's old knife." Torn laughed a little, "I remember he used to tell me that one day he would give me this, my mother would have a small heart attack every time he said that…" He looked back at Mar, "I guess that maybe I'm a bit luckier then you, at least I can remember my parents- you most likely won't remember what you did with your parents. But at least being that they were the King and Queen you probably won't forget them all together." Mar just looked up at him, not really getting what Torn was talking about, Torn just laughed, "I don't know why I'm telling you all this- but whatever, you're not going to remember it anyways." Torn put the knife back into the holder on his back and got up, you're probably hungry, come on let's see what we can get you." Mar followed Torn out of the room to find something to eat.

Later Mar was walking around the underground hide out, he was bored again and everyone was so busy that they couldn't play with him. He had never been so alone in his life; his father would put down everything to play with him and his mother was always with him. He remembered hearing his father tell him that he was only going away for a little while but how long was that? How long would it be until his father came to get him and take him home; where was his mother and now he didn't even have Mutt to play with, he was alone. He walked into another room, the room looked a lot like Torn's room; nothing in it but a bed but the difference was rather then there being a grown man sitting on the bed, there was a little girl fast asleep in the bed. Mar walked in to get a closer look at the girl; he crawled up on the bed to get a better look at her but she had the blanket pulled up to her nose so all he could see was the top of her hair. He poked the sleeping girl and she moaned a little, he was about to poke her again but then someone picked him up off the bed- he caught a glimpse long blond hair and for a moment he thought that the she-elf that had picked him up was his mother but he soon found that it wasn't his mother it was just Tess. He looked at her and his eyes began to fill with tears and he started to cry. Tess took him out of the room before he could wake up Keira and tried to calm him but it did no good, he was just too upset. At a point he cried himself to sleep. All that he wanted was to go home and be with his mother and father again, he also missed Ashelin and his Uncle Erick- not that Mar knew that Erick was the reason for him feeling this way. No, Mar didn't know that his father's best friend had betrayed him and threw him out of the city. And even though he had seen what happened to his mother he didn't know that she was never coming for him. Mar really didn't know that his parents were never going to come and take him home.

**Jet: I know, short chapter, but that's because I have something that I really wanted to be the main point of the next chapter otherwise it would be in this chapter.**

**Penny: BABY KEIRA!**

**Jet: Yes Penny, Baby Keira is in this story. Okay, I get why some people think that she is adopted but especially after TLF where she's learning to be a sage I think it's safe to say that she's Samos' biological daughter.**

**Penny: Jak and Keira almost met two times. Why didn't you have them both awake at the same time?**

**Jet: Because that's the next chapter.**

**Penny (excited:) Really?!**

**Jet: Really, so tell me what you think and I'll see everyone for the next chapter.**


	2. Who Are You?

Chapter 2: Who Are You?

**Jet: Okay, it's time for chapter 2 and I love the way this one turned out.**

**Penny: But before we do that we need to do a recap.**

**Jet: But I only posted chapter one just last week, do I **_**really**_** need to do a recap? I don't think my readers have that bad of a memory.**

**Penny: Still.**

**Jet: Fine, So the first half of chapter one was really just a recap of the end of the Untold Story. Then after Molly got shot-**

**Penny: You've put that scene in three of your stories now.**

**Jet (Glaring at Penny): Anyway, Mar gets away from Veger and Mutt takes him to a small hole where the two can hide. Mar is scared and confused and all he wants is to go home. The next day Mutt goes and gets food and water, he makes Mar stay in the hole and it stays like that for a week then Mar begins to get bored so he goes into the streets but it's like no one sees him. He hears one of those speaker things that has the Baron's voice coming out of it; being that he doesn't know what the Baron has done Mar still thinks that the voice belongs to someone he can trust. He sits next to it and then Samos shows up.**

**Penny: Sweet.**

**Jet: He takes Mar to the hide out where they find Tess and Torn. Tess realizes who the kid is and Torn is not happy- if you need to know why then read the Untold Story again. Torn does lighten up on him, and really that's the end of that. Mar takes a nap a bit later and then baby Keira comes into the story. She sees Mar sleeping and is about to wake him up when Samos stops her. Later Mar tries to wake Keira up but Tess stops him. Why did I not have them meet? Because that is something that needs its own chapter. So get ready for cuteness and comedy with this chapter. **

The next morning Mar woke up because someone was poking his cheek, "Up. Up." He heard a little girl's voice say. Mar opened his eyes and found himself looking right into a pair of green eyes. Keira smiled and waved, Mar waved back and sat up as he rubbed the sleep out of one of his eyes. The girl sat cross legged on the bed and pointed to herself, "Keira." She said, then she pointed at him. Mar didn't know what to do, the smile on Keira's face faded a little. She pointed at herself again, "Keira." She said putting a bit more force into her voice and then she pointed at Mar again. Mar didn't know what she wanted from him; he just blinked at her blankly. Keira was starting to get really frustrated; she stood up on the bed and gave Mar a glare or rather a one-year-old's version of a glare. She pointed to herself again, "Keira," she was starting to get annoyed by this. Mar just looked at her and felt the corners of his mouth twist up into a smile, next thing he knew he had flopped back onto the pillow and was laughing. It felt good to laugh; this was the first time he had since the night he had lost his parents. Keira stomped her foot to try to get him to stop laughing, but being that she was standing on a bed she lost her balance and fell onto the bed. Mar stopped laughing and looked at her. She looked at him with a face that said, '_What just happened_?' but then the two of them started laughing. After a bit Keira grabbed Mar's hand and started to pull him out of the bed. Mar let her take him over to the table where Torn and Samos were talking. Keira let go of Mar's arm and tugged on her father's shirt, "Daddy." She said.

Samos looked at her, "What is it Keira?" Keira pointed to Mar, Samos looked at him and then back at Keira, "Keira, I can't know what you want that way. You have to use your words."

Keira was really starting to get mad now, she stomped her foot and point at Mar again, "WHO!?" She yelled.

Samos looked at Mar, "Aren't you going to tell her your name?" He asked. Mar looked at Keira for a moment and then he looked away from her, it wasn't that he didn't want to tell her but really he couldn't remember his name.

Torn looked at him, "Kid," Mar looked up at him, "when someone asks for your name, you give it. Now, tell the nice little girl who you are."

Mar looked at the floor and shook his head. But Keira smiled, "Kid." She said, in a calm nice voice. Mar looked at her and she pointed to him, "Kid." She said again. Mar smiled, he couldn't remember his name but he knew that wasn't it, he shook his head. Keira just smiled bigger and pointed to herself, "Keira." Then she pointed to Mar, "Kid." Mar smiled and pointed to himself and nodded, just taking that for a name.

Keira smiled and grabbed his hand and led him over to the old looking door; as the door opened Tess walked through. The two toddlers ran through it, "Coming through." Tess said, being that the toddlers could say it themselves.

"Someone has to keep an eye on them." Samos said, "Tess could you-"

"I got it." She said to his unfinished question and she followed the two young elves down the hall.

Torn sighed and looked back at the papers and maps that covered the table, "We really need to find some else to play babysitter. We're just wasting Tess with that; we can use her for more important things."

"I know," Samos said, "but really that would be the case with everyone here. We would need someone that we couldn't send on missions."

"I know." Torn dropped the subject after that and looked at one of the maps.

Samos looked at him; really Torn looked older then he really was but that was because of everything he had gone through with the guards, "Torn remind me, how old are you?"

Torn looked at Samos, not really getting the strange question, "I'm eighteen…?"

"Oh," Samos said, looking at the maps. Torn didn't get why he just asked that and looked back at the maps as well. Samos smiled, "You still haven't talked to your girl-friend, have you?"

Torn's face went bright red and so did the tips of his ears, "Wh- what does that have to do with anything?" He stammered.

Samos looked at him and smiled, "You're so young, you should call her."

"I couldn't, after all it's her father we're fighting. I wouldn't be able to tell her anything and that would just make too many problems." Torn said as his face went back to its normal color.

"Torn let me ask you something: Do you trust her?"

"Yes, she's most likely the only person outside the underground that I do trust."

"Then I trust her and I think you should talk to her. Especially seeing that now more than ever we need someone who can tell us what the Baron is up to."

"You want to use her as a spy?" Torn asked, almost glaring at Samos.

"Not really, but the way I see it is if she's a part of the underground then you can tell her more." Torn almost smiled, "However, I do ask that you don't tell her that the prince is hiding here, I don't know what we would do if word got out about that."

"I understand, thanks." The two men went back to studying the maps on the table.

Keira took Mar through the hall and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs she reached for the door knob- but she couldn't reach; Tess looked at them and was about to open the door for them when Mar jumped, grabbed the handle and opened the door himself. Keira smiled and the two toddlers walked into the room, Tess just followed them. The room was full of stuffed animals; Keira walked over to a pile of them, turned her back to them and fell back into the pile laughing. Mar just walked over to her and looked at her. Keira looked up at him and then grabbed a stuffed Muse and held it up to Mar, "Play." She said. Mar took it and sat down with Keira and played with her. Tess sat in a corner of the room and watched.

A little later another woman walked into the room, this woman had short brown hair that hung just above her ears, her eyes were a golden color, her navy blue tang top looked like the bottom half had been cut off just to show off her very thin figure, her jean shorts also looked like they had a good part of the legs cut off of them so they would hug her thighs. At first glance most people would think that she was always angry or mean but Tess knew better, she smiled at her, "Hi Aida."

"Hi Tess, thought I would give you a break from the toddlers." She looked back at Mar who was still holding onto the stuffed muse as he watched Keira dig through the piles of stuffed animals, "So is that the young prince?" She asked.

"Yep."

"Poor kid, so young and already he has lost everything." She looked at Tess, "Do you think that maybe the King is still alive out there? In the wasteland, I mean."

Tess rested her elbow on her leg and put her chin in her hand, "I'd like to think he is and that he'll come back, at least then if nothing else the prince will have his father back. But to be real… who could survive out there? I've never heard of anyone coming back, have you?"

"No, I haven't." The two women looked back at the toddlers. "So what is his name anyway?" Aida asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't know," Tess said, really she hadn't even thought about it, "Keira had just been calling him 'kid' for the last half hour." Tess got up, "I'm going to go get them something to eat and drink. I'll be right back."

Aida sat down in the chair and watched the two play. Mar just sat there holding the stuffed Muse and looking at the floor; and Keira had a stuffed bear, she looked at Mar and then poked him. He looked at her and forced a smile, Keira smiled back and then she grabbed Mar's cap and pulled it off his head. Mar dropped the Muse and his hand flew to his head as if he was trying to hide his blond-green hair- well the ends of his hair was a bit blond any way. He glared at Keira who had put his cap on her head and it covered her blue-green hair about as well as it covered Mar's hair, she smiled at him. Mar grabbed the cap and ripped it off her head. "OW!" She cried; Mar had pulled her hair. Tears filled the toddler's eyes, Mar didn't mean to do it but he was still mad that she had just taken his cap; he crossed his arms and looked away from her as the tears spilled onto her cheeks. Aida just watched, waiting for Mar to at least make some attempt to say he was sorry. She was about to go over there and make him say he was sorry but then he looked at Keira, he took off his cap and then put it on her head. She stopped crying and looked at his smiling face; she smiled too as tears still fell down her face. Mar didn't know why he had been mad about her taking his cap, he did even remember where he had gotten it but he had a feeling that it was from someone that was special to him, someone important that he had forgotten. It was like his amulet; he couldn't remember where it had come from but he knew it was important but he didn't know why. His memories were nothing but blurred images and mixed voices- he couldn't even remember what his mother and father sounded like, but he could just barely remember what they looked like. He still wanted them to come and get him; they would find him… right?

Back on the streets, Mutt was still looking for Mar. Mutt was not the type of croca-dog that did tracking he was still a puppy after all, he wouldn't even be an adult for another three years and he wouldn't really start growing for another two years but that was good because that meant that he could get into all the little holes in the city that Mar could hide in. But even after looking all day and all night he still couldn't find a trace of his boy. Mutt fell down into a ditch and was looking up at a big metal door. He had never seen this door before, where did it lead? Could Mar have gone through it? Mutt walked up to it and put his front paws on the door and barked at it but it wouldn't open. He whined, scratched and howled at it but it just wouldn't open. A guard walking by had heard the croca-dog's cries and went to see what it was. He found Mutt in the ditch, "Hey, little guy." He said, Mutt looked at him, "Are you stuck?" Mutt just went back to scratching at the door the guard laughed, "You don't want to go out there puppy, I don't think anyone's out there." The guard jumped into the ditch and knelt down, "Come on, I'll get you out of here." Mutt walked over to the guard and he picked him up, "There you go, safe and sound." He said as he got out of the ditch himself. He patted Mutt on the head, "You be good and stay out of trouble, okay?" The guard started to walk away. Mutt watched him go, and then he started to follow him; Mutt had been so busy looking for Mar that he hadn't eaten, he needed someone to take care of him, and this man had showed him kindness. Maybe he would take in this puppy and give him a home, at least until he found Mar. The guard looked down, "Okay puppy, go on." He said, waving his hand in a shooing motion. Mutt sat down flopped his ear's back and gave the guard the puppy-dog-pout, he even whimpered a little just to complete the picture. The guard couldn't help but to give in to that cute sad face, "Alright, you can come with me." Mutt got up, wagged his tail and hung his tongue out. The guard started to walk away and Mutt followed him.

Back at the underground hideout, late in the afternoon; Mar and Keira were both taking a nap, Keira had her knees pulled up to her chest and was holding a stuffed bear while using a pile of other stuffed animals for a pillow. Mar, on the other hand, was laying flat on his back holding a sippy cup that was dripping what was left of the water in it onto the floor. Keira had given his cap back before she had fallen asleep, but he had already fallen asleep so she just put it over his face. It was so calm and peaceful in the room that Aida and Tess had also fallen asleep in the corner with their backs to the wall; Tess was using Aida's shoulder as a pillow and Aida was using Tess' head. Torn walked into the room and saw the two toddlers fast asleep on the floor, he couldn't help but to give a small smile, something that was a bit rare for him these days but then he looked at Aida and Tess and the little smile annoyingly disappeared. He did a bit of a squat and flicked Aida's forehead to wake her up… big mistake. Completely on instinct, Aida's fist collided with the bottom of Torn's jaw, it took him off guard and he fell onto his back with a thud. The sound woke Aida and Tess; Aida looked at Torn with half opened eyes, "Torn?" She said, still a bit drowsy, "what are you doing? You look like you got hit with a zoomer."

Torn glared at her and got up, "What do mean 'what am I doing'?!" He mostly yelled forgetting that Mar and Keira were taking a nap. "You punched me!"

Aida also stood up and glared Torn down even though she was shorter than him by a few inches. Fact was if looks could kill then Torn would be six feet under right now, "You tried to wake me up didn't you?!" She was also yelling a bit.

"Yeah, I was, so what?!"

"So then you got what you deserved! I warned you when I joined the underground _never_ to wake me up- so it's your own fault if you got hit!"

"You can't just hit people when they wake you up!"

Tess looked at the two grown elves and then at the toddlers and back at Torn and Aida, "Guys be quiet or-" It was too late; Keira had woken up and was now crying which woke Mar up and got him to cry as well.

Torn and Aida looked at the crying toddlers and then Aida glared back at Torn, "Now look what you've done!" She said as Tess picked up Keira to try to calm her.

"What I've done!? You're the one who-" Aida punched him in the face to get him to shut up.

Mar saw this and stopped crying instead he started to laugh. Aida saw this and smiled, "You think that's funny Kid? Well watch this." She went to punch Torn in the gut and he grabbed her wrist to try to stop her but he found her knee in his gut instead. Keira also started to laugh even Tess couldn't help but crack a smile. Aida smiled back at her, "Hey Keira, here is one weak spot on every boy that every sweet girl like you should know just in case you find yourself with the wrong kind of guy."

Torn back away from her, "Oh no!" He said, "Don't you dar-" but a swift kick to his nether regions cut him off and brought him to his knees with his face on the floor... this wasn't a good day for Torn. Mar and Keira were laughing their heads off. "You are so luckily I don't hit girls." Torn's voice was full of pain.

"You're hopeless." Aida said, patting Torn on the back, "What did you want anyways?"

"The shadow wants to see you."

"Fine," she walked over to the door and then she looked back at the three elves that hadn't just gotten their asses kick and smiled, "I'll see you guys latter." She waved cutely then left.

Mar walked over to Torn who was now just sitting on the floor- now recovered from his low blow, he looked at the little boy, "Hey kid, you remember how I told you that Metal-heads are horrible monsters?" Mar somewhat remembered him saying something like that so he nodded, "Well women are worse, don't ever forget that."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Tess said, putting Keira down.

Torn smiled, "I didn't mean you." Keira stood next to Mar as the two adults talked, "I mostly just meant Aida. I mean she just kicked my as…" he looked at the two toddlers, "_butt _for no reason, but she's messed with wrong person. I'll get her back for this."

Tess smiled, "You know, the way you two act you would think she was your little sister or something. It's cute."

"I'm not related to her in any way."

"I know. I just think it's cute that you two can be like that. I never had any brothers or sisters so I like it when I see people with that kind of a relationship, I like seeing people with the things I never had."

Torn looked at her confused, "Most people get jealous when they see something like that, not happy."

"It's just nice to see that people are happy with the things I never got a chance with."

Torn got up and put his hand on Tess' shoulder, "You're a good person, Tess, you know that, if anything you're like a little sister to me way more than Aida is." Tess just smiled at him. "Well, I better go back and see if the Shadow needs me to do anything." He started to walk away and then he looked back at Tess "Keep an eye on the kid and Keira, okay?"

"I've haven't been doing anything else." Tess yelled down the stairs after him.

"And no more sleeping!" He yelled back.

Tess went a little red as she shut the door. She turned around to looked where Mar and Keira had been, but she didn't see them. She looked at a big pile of stuff animals, the biggest in the room. She smiled and walked over to it, "_Oh no_." she said, putting her hand on her forehead, "Where oh where have my two favorite kids gone?" The pile began to laugh a little, "Where oh where could they have gone?"

Then Mar and Keira popped out of the pile, "Here!" Keira yelled, Mar just smiled.

Tess pretended to be surprised, "Oh, there you two are." Then she saw Mar's cap on the ground, "And what is this?" She asked as she picked it up. Mar got out of the pile and tried to grab the cap out of her hand. Tess held it out of his reach, "Calm down kid." She knelt down and put the cap on his head, "There, that's better right?" Mar smiled at her.

Back with Mutt, the guard was taking him home after he was done with his patrol. He opened the door and Mutt ran in, the guard right behind him. The guard sat down in a recliner and closed his eyes. Mutt came over and licked the man's fingers. The man looked down at him, "You hungry, puppy?" He asked. Mutt whimpered a little, the man got up, "Alright, let's see what we can find for dinner." They walked into the small kitchen and the man opened the fridge- which was mostly empty. The man grabbed a small container and opened it. He looked sadly at Mutt, "How do you feel about macaroni salad?" Mutt just looked up at him, the man smiled and put the bowl in the microwave after the macaroni salad was warm he grabbed a couple of bowls and a fork. He filled one bowl with water and put it on the floor, Mutt drank the liquid happily as the man put half of the salad into the other bowl, he put that on the ground as well and Mutt began to eat it. The man took his diner back to his recliner and turned on the television. When Mutt had finished with his dinner he walked back over to the man and laid down next to the recliner. After a little while the man put the bowl and fork on the table that was next to him and turned off the T.V., he got up and locked the door and turned off the light, then he grabbed a blanket and sat back in the recliner and went to sleep. Mutt curled up next to the recliner, he would get out when the man went to work the next day and he would keep looking for Mar then, but for now the pup needed a rest. Mutt fell fast asleep, hoping that wherever Mar was that he felt as warm and safe as Mutt did.

Back at the underground hide out, Keira and Mar were being led out of their little play room, where they had spent all day, by Tess; she took them back to the main room of the hideout and Keira ran to her father and hugged him. He looked down at her and put his hand on top of her head, "Well hello, Keira, I haven't seen you all day." He looked at Mar and smiled, "I think it's time for bed for two certain little elves.

"NO!" Keira yelled, Mar just shook his head quickly.

Samos looked at his daughter, "But Keira you have to go to bed, you're going to day care tomorrow."

Keira ran over to Mar and hid behind him, "No!" She said again. Samos looked at Tess and she picked up Keira who instantly started to squirm, "NO! NO! NO!" She yelled trying to get out of Tess' grip.

Tess just smiled, "Keira, if you go to bed I'll tell you a story."

Keira stopped squirming and looked at Tess innocently, "Story?" She said. Tess smiled and took Keira to her room.

Mar, not wanting to be left behind started to follow, but then the main door opened and Mar waited to see who it was. Aida walked in and Mar heard her before he saw her, "Well I'm back!" She yelled.

Samos looked up and was shocked, there was a deep bloody gash on her left arm, "Aida, what happened?!"

"Ran into a slight Metal-head problem out in the forest; you were right, they are starting to creep closer to the city. The beast that gave me this," She raised her left arm proudly, "Was hiding out at the temple."

"But what happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing; I was just being careless on my way back. It snuck up behind me and attacked." She reached into the bag at her side and pulled out a skull gem, "Last lucky moment in its life, let me tell you."

"Well go get yourself cleaned up and have that looked at."

"It's fine, it's nothing that won't heal." She said as she put her 'trophy' back into her bag.

"Go." Samos said.

She walked into Mar's view and his eyes widen in horror at the sight of Aida's arm, he had a blurred memory of seeing that red liquid before and he remembered it was not a happy memory. There was a woman, someone he cared about laying on the ground, she wasn't moving. He remembered wanting her to move but she didn't. He remembered that he wanted her to move but he couldn't remember why. Then he remember someone grabbing him and pulling him away from the woman but then everything turned into a bad blur and he did remember much more. He started to cry; Aida knelt down and looked at him, "Kid, what's wrong?" Mar just hugged her, still crying. Aida was a little shocked but she wrapped her right arm around him so she wouldn't get any blood on him, "Don't be scared, I'm okay." She got up and took his hand, "Come on, why don't you come with me? It's late, so after I'm all cleaned up I'll tuck you into bed, okay?" Mar held her hand as she led him down the hall. She came to a room and looked at him, "Stay here, I'll be right back." She walked in and Mar sat down and waited for her.

When she came back out Mar stood up, he saw a white cloth covering her arm, "You should rest that arm for a few days or it won't heal properly. You did more damage to it than you think." A man said as she walked out.

"Okay, okay." She waved him off, "I get it, I need to stop punching Metal-heads." She closed the door and looked at Mar who was looking at her with a blank look. She smiled at him, "Told you I was fine, now come on, it's time for bed." She picked him up, "I'm not going on any missions anytime soon so you and I can hang out all day while Keira's at daycare." Mar yawned and rubbed his eyes when Aida put him down in the bed he had slept in the night before. She covered him up and took off his cap; he was too tired to care. He laid down and closed his eyes with Aida ruffling his hair, she climbed up onto the bunk above him and she also fell asleep.

Mar wasn't really asleep yet, but he was close; he looked at the door with half opened eyes just out of the slim hope that his mother and father was going to walk though it and take him home. But what was home? He couldn't remember. He lived in a very big place, much bigger than here. It was full of hallways and doors but even with it being so big there was only a few people that he always saw. His parents, his uncle and there was someone else but he couldn't remember who it was. All he could remember was that this person had tattoos like Torn but he could remember anything else. His uncle was a bit easier to remember because he only had one eye and most of his head was covered in something hard, and his parents- well they were his parents he wouldn't forget about them and he would know them if he saw them… wouldn't he? He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**Penny: BABY JAK AND BABY KEIRA ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO CUTE!**

**Jet: Easy Penny. Well there's not much to say here, so I guess I'll just say tell me what you think and I'll see everyone when the next chapter is up.**


	3. Like a Family

Chapter 3: Like a Family

**Jet: Okay, time do a recap.**

**Penny: Shouldn't you be doing your homework…?**

**Jet: Shhh.**

**Jak: I'm with Penny here.**

**Jet: Well I don't care, besides it won't take me that long anyways.**

**Jak: Still you keep writing about my life.**

**Jet: I can't help it; it's a lot of fun.**

**Jak (Glaring): 'Fun'?**

**Jet: Hey, I'm not the only one who writes fanfics about you.**

**Jak: I still don't like you.**

**Jet: Why not?**

**Jak: …**

**Penny: Maybe there won't be a recap; just read.**

Mar woke the next morning, wondering if what happened yesterday was a dream. It had to be, he had been happy yesterday and the only other times in his life when he had been happy was with his parents. The little girl he had met yesterday couldn't have been real… she was too nice. But maybe he was wrong, he remembered someone else that he had met yesterday; a woman that made him laugh. Mar remembered her going onto the top bunk the night before. He got out of bed, grabbed his cap and tried to climb the ladder; it took him a little bit to climb up but when he got up there was no one there. He sat on the bed; it _had_ all been a dream. He wanted to cry but then the door that led to the hallway flew open and Torn rushed into the room. He ran past Mar, "Hi kid." Torn said heading for the exit, "If anyone asked, I'm at the Pumping Station." And he fled out.

Mar just sat there, not really knowing what was going on. Then the door opened again and Mar's face lit up; Aida walked into the room, so yesterday hadn't been a complete dream. Even with Aida looking very mad Mar was still glad to see her. Her top lip and her chin looked like the skin had been rubbed raw and there was black marker smudged on her face, "TORN!" She yelled, "When I get my hands on him I'm going to kill him!" She didn't see Mar on the top bunk. "How immature can he be?" Mar started laughing and Aida looked at him, "What are you doing up there?" She grabbed him with her good arm and put him back on the bottom bunk, "Don't go up there, you could fall. Now do you know where Torn went?" Mar pointed to the door that Torn had run out of. Aida sighed and stood up, "Well he'll be back. I'll get him then." Aida smiled at Mar, "So do you want to play?" Mar smiled and nodded. He got off the bed and took Aida's hand and they walked to the play room, maybe Keira had been a dream but Aida wasn't and as long as she was there he was happy.

Torn walked through the security gate in the water slums and walked out into the Pumping station. He walked over and leaned against a tree that was near the water and looked at the ruins that was Dead Town just a little way aways from where he was. He didn't move until he heard the doors open again. He looked to see a she-elf with shoulder length red hair walk up to him; she smiled as she started to walk faster and faster until she was running to him. He took her into his arms and held her close, "I've really missed you." She said, rubbing her head against his neck, "It's been a long time since the last time we've seen each other. I was beginning to think you were dead." A few tears ran down her face.

Torn held her as tight as he could, "It's okay Ashelin, I'm right here."

She pulled away from him a little bit so she could look into his eyes, "All this time, why didn't you call me? I really thought that something had happened to you."

"I couldn't call, it was just too dangerous. I'm a part of the Underground; I work for the Shadow and…" He let go of her and looked away, "And I guess you're like a princess now… being that your father took over the city."

Ashelin looked at her feet and clenched her fist, "I don't even know who he is anymore. The father I knew wouldn't betray his friends the way he did. I don't even know why he did what he did. I can't talk to him anymore- I can't even stand to be in the same room with him. Maybe I should have just gone with Damas out into the wasteland, dying out there would be better then living in this hell hole."

Torn looked at her and took her hand in his, "Well I'm glad you didn't go, if you had then I would never have gotten to see you again."

She smiled at Torn, "I want be a part of the underground, I want to do anything I can to help stop my father." Torn was shocked. "I don't think he has a clue what he's doing. He keeps saying that the city has enough eco but it doesn't. He's obsessed with finding Mar's tomb. Why? I don't know. The only thing he's more obsessed with is finding the prince- probably just so he can kill him- and he probably starved to death or was killed the same night as his mother." Tears were running down her face now, Torn wanted to tell her that the prince was with the underground and that he was fine but he remembered that he had told Samos that he would keep that fact from Ashelin. "After all the problems my father has made, I want to do what I can to set things right."

Torn smiled, "That's great." Ashelin looked at him, confused; what was 'great' about anything she had said? "This works out perfectly."

"Torn, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The Shadow wanted your help, he wants to use you to… well… spy on your father."

Ashelin looked, at first, like she didn't know what to think- but then she smiled and put her hands on her hips, "I think I can do that." Torn was just a bit surprised that she was so willing to this. Ashelin just smiled even bigger, "I told you I want to do everything I can to make this right."

"Anything you can tell me would be great."

"I kinda already did, I told you everything I know. I don't know why my father's trying to find Mar's tomb, there must be something locked in there, something important or powerful. I remember my father and Damas looking for it before everything happened. But I don't know what they were looking for or why it was so important that they found it."

"It has to be something really, really powerful if your father is trying so hard to find it."

"I don't know. I'll try to find out more but really the only one my father tells anything to any more is Errol, and I think that's because he follows him like puppy."

"Just try to find out, we need to know what he's planning if we're going to have a chance to stop him."

Ashelin nodded, "I will." She looked at the sky. "I need to head back before people start wondering where I am, I'll call you when I find out more." She started to walk away from him but then she turned back to him and kissed his cheek and then she walked away. Torn just stood there for a little while his hand on his cheek. He eventually came back to his senses and headed back to the hide out.

Tess and Keira walked into the hideout later that afternoon. The little girl ran to her father and hugged him and then she looked around the room, "Where kid?" She asked him.

Samos smiled, "Aida's with him in the play room." Keira ran to the door and Tess opened it and she ran down the hall and up the stairs. Samos shook his head a little, "Well, I'm glad that she has a friend her own age now to play with." He said to no one, "But what's going to happen after all this is over?"

Tess opened the door to the play room and Keira saw her friend playing with Aida. Mar looked at her and smiled; nothing that had happened yesterday had been a dream. Mar picked up a teddy bear and handed it to Keira, it was his way to say 'play'; Keira somehow seemed to understand and took the bear and the two went to play. Aida stood next to Tess who smiled at her, "How's your arm?" She asked.

Aida smiled, "It's fine."

"You've just been playing with the kid all day?" Tess asked as Keira threw a stuffed animal at Mar. Rather than crying Mar picked up another stuffed animal and threw it at Keira who laughed, the two of them started to throw stuffed animals at each other.

"Well I can't do much else can I?" Aida asked, smiling as Keira ran over to Mar and started to hit him with a bear.

Tess looked at her and smiled, "The boy seems to really like you." Aida looked at the blond she-elf, "You know what I think? I think you should find a nice guy and have your own kid; you'd be a good mother."

Aida shook her head, "Nah, if anyone here would be a good mother it's you. I would be more like the fun aunt that everyone likes." She looked back at the two toddlers, "Besides, what guy would be willing to put up with me?"

"Well I don't see myself being a mom any time soon."

"Why not?"

"I guess I'm still waiting for mister right."

"And who would that be?"

Tess thought about it, "Well… he has to be nice and loyal, someone I can trust. He has to be brave and strong- you know so I can feel safe- and he had to be someone who loves to have fun, someone that can make me laugh that's the most important part even if he can't do all the other things I want, as long as he can make me smile I won't care."

Aida shook her head, "You're living in a fantasy." Tess glared at her, "Tess look, you live in Haven city: 'nice' doesn't really exist here anymore. You're part of the underground, you can take care of yourself- why do you want to have to rely on someone else all the time? And not to mention look around you, look at the way the city is, 'fun loving'… there's no such thing anymore. Tess, I'm not trying to kill your fantasy but maybe you should look for someone real then this perfect guy you've come with."

Tess looked at the floor sadly, "Maybe your right, maybe I should grow up."

"I didn't say that."

"I know, but still, I _am_ just waiting for this perfect guy and he's never going to show up." Tess looked at Mar and Keira who had stopped throwing stuffed animals at each other and were just lying in a pile, starting to fall asleep.

A little later Mar woke up; he looked at Keira and smiled, she was the only good thing in his life, she made him happy. He couldn't remember ever playing with kids his own age ever, but really he was having a hard time remembering anything that happened before he lost his parents. Mar started to poke her and she woke up. She rubbed her eyes and smiled at him, "Hi." She said, Mar just smiled.

Keira and Mar got up and looked around; Aida was sitting in the corner, sleeping, the kids walked over to her and Mar climbed onto her lap. Aida woke up and looked down at the toddlers, "Well hello." She said, she looked at Mar, "You know what, let's go see what everyone else is doing." She got up and the two followed her. They walked downstairs and found Tess, Samos and- "TORN!" Aida yelled, Torn jumped and looked at her.

"Hi." He said.

Aida walked up to him, "You are a dead man."

"What did I do?" He played off innocent.

Aida was about to answer when Samos cut her off, "You two can argue later. Right now we have a few more important things to do."

Mar and Keira just stood by the door as the adults talked, Keira and Mar looked at each other and then back at the adults, they didn't know what was going on, Keira walked over to her father and started tugging on his arm, "Daddy." She said.

Samos looked down at her, "Keira, not now." He looked back to Torn; this did not make the young girl happy.

She started tugging harder on her father's arm, "Daddy!"

Samos looked down at her again and saw that she was reaching up to him- telling him that she just wanted to be held. Samos picked her up and held her in one arm; this at least got her to be quiet long enough for him to send Torn and another underground member to the forest to deal with a small Metal-head problem. Then he looked at his daughter, "Now what am I going to do with you?"

Mar just stood there, looking at Keira and Samos… he wanted his dad too. He sat down on the floor and started to play with the dirt. Aida saw the sad little boy and went to sit next to him, "Hey little guy, you okay?" Mar looked up at her and held up his arms to her. Aida smiled and picked him up with her good arm. Mar put his small arms around her neck and started to cry a bit. Aida could tell that he missed his parents but there was nothing she could do about it. So she just held him tight trying to comfort him.

Tess looked at Keira and tickled her under the chin, "I think it's bath time." She took Keira out of Samos' arms and looked at Aida, "mind helping me? It would be a bit difficult to deal with both of them at the same time."

Aida smiled, "Yeah, I can help." Aida and Tess took the two toddlers to the bathroom. Tess filled the tub and Aida undressed the two. When there was a good amount of water in the tub they put the two toddlers in. Mar instantly started splashing around which Keira also joined in. By the time the two were clean there was good amount of water on Aida, Tess and the bathroom floor. The two adults wrapped towels around the two toddlers and picked them up out of the water; Tess took Keira to get her clean clothes but Aida was having a small problem, there wasn't any other clothes for the kid. Mar did see this problem he was wrapped up in a nice warm towel; he yawned and started to fall asleep in Aida's arms. Aida looked down and smiled at him, he was just so cute. After Keira was dressed and put in bed for the night Tess came back and found Aida. She picked up the small overalls and shirt that was still on the ground and took them to get washed. When she came back she gave the clean clothes to Aida who dressed the small boy without waking him and put him to bed. She put his cap and amulet next to him then she climbed up onto the top bunk and also fell asleep.

On the other side of the slums, Mutt was lying on the ground waiting for the guard that was taking care of him to come home and let him into the house. Mutt had spent the whole day looking for Mar but he didn't fine even a trace of him, being that he was going to have to come back to this house every night that meant that he couldn't get too far away which limited his search. Mutt laid on the ground, whining a little, missing the boy. He had one job: to keep Molly and Mar safe and he couldn't even do that. The guard came over to him and patted him on the head, "Hey pup." He said, Mutt looked at him as he opened the door. Mutt ran inside and started to scratch at the cupboard, "Your hungry, huh?" The guard opened the cupboard and found something for the two of them to eat. As they ate the guard looked at Mutt, "You know pup, I envy you, you don't have a care in the world. You could sleep all day and no one would complain, you don't have to have a job or worry about anything. You're lucky." The guard just sat in his chair and sighed. Mutt came over and licked his hand; getting the message, the guard scratched Mutt behind the ears as he fell asleep.

The next day, at the hideout Mar woke and got out of bed, he looked up at the top bunk and saw Aida still asleep. He smiled and grabbed his cap. Then he went to the old looking door and opened it, he walked down the hall and found Keira's room. He opened the door and walked in; Keira was still fast asleep, well that was no good; Mar walked over to the bed and climbed up onto it and looked at her, smiled and then started to poke her. She woke up and looked at him, at first she looked tired but then she smiled at him and got out of bed. Mar grabbed her hand and the two of them walked to the door. They walked back into the main room of the hideout, the two walked over to the table and Mar helped Keira get up on it then he tried climbing up onto it but he just couldn't do it. Keira sat on the table and picked up some of the maps; she looked at them and then she threw them up into the air, laughing. Mar also started to laugh, he picked up some of the papers that had fallen onto the floor and also started to throw them into the air. This was a lot of fun, but then something caught Mar's eye, it was a poster of the Baron, there was something written at the bottom of it but Mar couldn't read yet so he didn't know what it said, also there was a big red X over it. Mar didn't know why there was a random picture of his Uncle but really he thought it was a bit nice to see a familiar face.

From all the laughing Aida woke up and she was not to happy with what she saw, "What are you two doing?!" She asked them, trying not the yell. Mar looked away from the poster and looked at her; Keira stopped throwing paper around and also looked at her. Aida got out of bed, picked Keira up off the table and started to pick up the papers. The two toddlers just stood there watching her then once she was done she lead the two up to their play room. The two toddlers just stayed in the play room, Keira was happy to play with her toys but Mar was getting bored with this; to him it was the same thing every day. Not that he didn't like playing with Keira, it was nice having someone his own age to play with, but still it was the same thing every day. At one point he just sat in the corner of the room, Keira tried to get him to play but he just didn't want to so she just went to play by herself. Aida looked at him and went to sit next to him. He looked up at her, "What's wrong kid?" She asked. Mar just looked at the floor. "You miss your family, don't you?" Mar looked at her and then he hugged her. Aida hugged him back, "Don't worry, you have all of us now, we're like your family now, we'll take care of you." Keira walked over to them and feeling a bit left out she hugged Aida as well.

**Jet: Well, that was fun. I guess I'll see everyone next chapter, let me know what you think.**

**Jak: Again, I don't like you.**

**Jet (Eye roll): Oh, don't even act like you remember this.**

**Jak: Well maybe I **_**do**_** remember this. Did you ever think of that?**

**Jet: … You're joking right? I know you don't remember this.**

**Jak: Well, I got to tell you I don't like what you're playing for the next chapter.**

**Jet: I'm not even sure if that is going to be in the next chapter, that really depends on how long the chapter is. I might push it back another chapter.**

**Jak: I'm not sure if that's a good thing or if you should just get it over with.**

**Jet: Look on the bright side, Jak, once that thing we're talking about happens then you get to be in the story.**

**Jak: Wait, what? I thought the story was about me- just you know- as a little kid.**

**Jet: No, not that you. The older you. **

**Jak (Smirking): You want to be a little clearer with that?**

**Jet: Fine, the story will pick up with Jak 2. Happy now?**

**Jak: Little bit.**

**Jet (Evil grin): Hey Jak, do you like My Little pony?**

**Jak: …What?**


	4. The Old Man and the New Guy

Chapter 4: The Old Man and the New Guy

**Jet: Okay, I'm back and here is what happened in chapter 3; Mar wakes up and thinks what happened the day before was a dream. But then Torn runs out the door and Aida after him. Then Mar is happy because this means that the day before wasn't a dream. Then Torn goes and meets up with Ashelin at the Pumping station. The two are happy to be together and Ashelin tells Torn what her father is up to. Then Tess brought Keira back from daycare and Mar was even happier to see his friend. Tess asked Aida if her arm was alright, she said that it was fine. Then Tess points out how good Aida is with Mar and what a good mother she would be. Aida says that she's not the motherly type and says that Tess would be a better mother, but Tess doesn't think she would be a mother anytime soon mostly because she is waiting for the perfect guy.**

**Penny: You mean Daxter?**

**Jet: Yes. When I did that part I was more thinking 'what do people think when they think of Daxter?' And that's what I got. Then there was a little bit of the underground doing something other than babysitting. And Torn is sent on a mission and Aida and Tess give Mar and Keira a bath together.**

**Jak: … I don't know how I feel about you putting that in a story.**

**Jet: Jak, almost everyone who has sibling that are close to the same age took baths with them. Anyways, the toddlers get put to bed after that. Then the next day the two start playing with the papers that were on the table then they get busted by Aida and she takes them somewhere else to play. Mar is a bit unhappy because he misses his mom and dad. Aida can tell and she tells him that it's okay because now he has the underground for a family. Well that's it, and before we start this chapter just a bit of a heads up it's long and not really about Mar, but it's important there are some big things in this one. So, on we go. Oh by the way Jak, did you watch any My Little Pony?**

**Jak (Mumbled something)**

**Jet: Sorry, didn't hear you.**

**Jak: I watched the first two episodes.**

**Jet: Aaaaannnd?**

**Jak: … it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.**

Two months had gone by; Aida, now fully recovered had returned to going on missions for the underground. Mar was not too happy about this, he was upset every time she left and he really wouldn't listen to anyone else. He was always waiting for her to walk through the door and every time she did he was happy again. Keira helped to keep him happy but she wasn't there all the time either, Tess did her best but Mar just felt so alone. He would usually just sitting sadly in a corner of the play room holding a teddy bear. Tess would sit next to him and try to cheer him up but nothing she did helped, he was like that all day. Tess knew why; he was lonely and as hard as she tried he just didn't want her. He wanted to play with Keira or Aida.

Aida knew how attached Mar was to her and she didn't mind, in fact she kinda liked it. He was such a nice and well behaved little boy. No matter how hard a mission was on her- she was aways happy to see Mar, just seeing him made everything better to her. Samos saw how happy Mar was with Aida around so he didn't send her on missions unless he absolutely had to. He also saw how happy both Keira and Mar were together but he felt that Keira had to go daycare when she could, it was good for her to be with other kids her own age also it wasn't good for her to be cooped up in the hideout all the time. Truth be told, it wasn't any good for Mar either but being that the Baron was looking for him Mar couldn't leave the hideout- it just wasn't safe. So Mar had not stepped outside for almost three months but that was going to change… very soon.

Aida was at the old temple, Samos had sent her there just to see how many Metal-heads had moved in there. What Aida found worried her a little; there were more and more Metal-heads there every time she looked. But at least they were all on the far end of the temple, but she feared that they would move closer to the city. She had to tell the others what was going on; she was on her way back to the city when out of nowhere a she heard someone yell for help. She ran to see what was going on, she followed the yells to a hole in the ground- she looked down into it and found an old man holding up a unconscious and much younger man as two Metal-heads crept closer to them, the man was bleeding badly from his face and chest, his arms and legs had deep gashes on them as well. He must have passed out from lack of blood.

Aida couldn't just watch this; she picked up a good size rock and chucked it at one of the Metal-heads. That pissed it off easy enough. The two Metal-heads looked up at her and they started to climb the rocky walls of the hole, a young she-elf much be more fun to kill than an old man and a half dead guy. Aida ran and climbed into a tree- she just wasn't the mood to fight Metal-heads, plus the Kid got really scared if she came back badly hurt so she had been taking it careful lately. The Metal-heads stopped at the bottom of the tree. At first, they didn't seem to know where she had gone then they found her, they jumped up on the tree but it seemed that Metal-heads could scale rocks but they couldn't climb trees. Aida smiled as she watched them try to climb and get her, but they had no luck. The Metal-heads seemed to get bored after a while and left, Aida climbed down and went back to the old man; she found him trying to make the other guy wake up. Aida jumped down into the hole which seemed to start the old man. "Oh, you're all right." He said. "Thank you for dealing with those Metal-heads. My friend here tried, but obviously he didn't stand a chance."

"It was nothing; we should get your friend back to the city, he needs help." Aida climbed out of the hole and together she and the old man got the younger man out of the hole then Aida helped the old man out and they began to head for the city, "I'm Aida by the way."

"And I am Kor."

Aida took them to the underground hideout, mostly because her walking into a hospital was out- being that there was no way that she or the old man could afford it. Torn wasn't too happy that she just brought two strangers into the hideout, but Samos knew that there wasn't any other choice. Kor told Samos and Torn what happened and Aida took the mostly dead man to the underground's doctor. He wasn't sure that the man would live though the night but he was willing to help him any way he could. After dropping him off there she went up to the play room where she found Mar, Tess and Keira all playing. Mar ran over to her when he saw her and she picked him up. Tess asked what happened and Aida told her everything.

Back with Samos, Torn and Kor; Kor was asking what this place was and Samos explained. Kor seemed a little over shocked that the Baron was running the city. Apparently for the last four months Kor and his companion had been exploring outside the city to just see how bad the Metal-head problem really was. "Wait," Torn said, "you're telling me that you and your friend have been living outside the city all this time studying the Metal-heads, and only _now_ did one of you come close to death?"

"My friend and I were so happy that we were almost home that we got a bit careless I'm afraid." Kor looked around, "you still have yet to tell me where I am."

"This is our hide out," Samos explained, "we are the underground. We're trying to stop the Baron and set the city right again."

"Really?" Kor asked, "And what will you do once you've dethroned the Baron, what then? The city needs a leader."

Samos smiled, "We have that under control. See, we have the prince."

Kor looked at him a bit confused and intrigued, "The prince, but isn't he just a little boy?"

"For now, yes, but he won't always be."

"If my friend and I can be of any help, just let us know."

Torn looked at him, "You know, I think there is a way that you can be a great help to us. Do you like kids?"

Samos looked at Torn, "What are you getting at?"

"Well just look at him, he would be useless in a fight- he could just keep an eye on the Kid and Keira. That way we could send Tess and Aida on missions and there would still be someone to watch them."

"I suppose that could work."

Kor smiled, "I love kids, and I would be more than happy to keep a close eye on the young prince."

"Great, then it's settled then." Samos said, "I'll show you where they are." Samos leaded Kor down the hall and Torn left to go meet up with Ashlein at the pumping station. When they got to the play room Samos opened the door and Keira ran to her father.

Samos picked her up, and she pointed to Kor, "Who?" She asked.

"This is Kor." Samos said, "He's going to be your new babysitter."

Keira looked at him, pointed and said, "Silly."

Kor smiled and rolled his eyes a little, "I know, I look a bit silly." Keira just laughed.

Mar on the other hand, just stayed close to Aida, he didn't know why but there was something that was telling him to stay away from Kor, something that made the two-year-old almost scared of him. Aida looked at him and could see that he was scared, "It's okay kid." She said, taking his hand. "He's not going to hurt you." Mar looked up at Aida, he still didn't like Kor but if Aida said it was okay then he would trust what she said.

Kor held out his hand for the boy's. Mar looked up at Aida and then took Kor's hand. Kor smiled, "Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you."

At the palace, Ashelin was about to leave to meet up with Torn when she found her path blocked by Errol, her father's right hand man. "What do you want?" She asked, clearly annoyed by the fact he was there.

"Oh, nothing." He said, smirking, "You know your father's is become a bit worried about you, you're always sneaking off and not telling anyone where you're going."

"Oh, my father _remembers_ he has a daughter, well that's good to know, I was starting to think that he thought he had a son. Now get out of my way Errol."

Errol stepped aside with a bit of a bow, "As you wish, princess."

"I'm not the princess." Ashelin said as she walked away. Errol smirked to himself, he was going to find out what Ashelin was up to.

Ashelin didn't know that Errol was following her, she was a bit too distracted with her own thoughts. She knew that her father was starting to get curious about where she was going; in truth there was a small part of her that hoped that he was worrying about her, at least then she could tell if her father was somewhat of the same man he used to be. But the bigger part of her knew that if her father was wondering where she was then it would only be a matter of time before he found out that she was meeting up with Torn and that she was telling the Underground everything. She didn't care what happened to her; it was Torn she was worried about, if he was caught then he would be imprisoned, or worse killed. She couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Torn got to the Pumping Station and found Ashlein waiting for him. They had found a place at the station that wasn't close to the wall and that had become there meeting place. He was happy to see her but she didn't seem happy to see him. Torn walked over to her, "Ashelin, is something wrong? You look upset."

She looked at him, she didn't show it but her heart was breaking. She looked away from him, "I don't think we should see each other like this anymore." She said.

Torn was shocked, "What do you mean?"

"It's getting way to dangerous." She looked at him, "My father and Errol are noticing that I'm disappearing and I don't even want to think what will happen if they find out that I'm seeing you."

Torn took her hands, "Ashelin, I don't care what happens to me."

"But I do. Torn, my father knows that you're part of the underground."

"How did he find out?"

"I don't know. But Torn, if he gets his hands on you he will have you killed." She embraced him, "I'm sorry, I just can't let that happen… not to you."

"Ashelin, look at me," she looked up at him, "when I was part of the guard there was a chance every day that I would get killed by something. You know that, you have the same risk. So what's the difference now?"

"I don't want to be the reason you get killed- that's what's different." She pulled away from him a little and reached into her pocket. She pulled out something and put it in his hand but she didn't take her hand out of his just yet. "Torn, if my life was in danger wouldn't you do anything to protect me?"

"Yes. Without another thought."

"Then let me do the same for you." She pulled her hand out of his and now in Torn's hand was a communicator. "That will only connect to my personal communicator. I'll keep letting the Underground know what my father is up to, but we can't meet like this anymore. I'm sorry."

She began to walk away, Torn watched her go, "Ashelin!" He called, she didn't turn around. "ASHELIN!" He called louder but she still didn't look at him. She walked out of his sight. He wanted to go after her; he wanted to tell her that she could just join the underground and that way they could stay together.

But when he was about to go after her he found a gun to his back. "Don't move and don't say anything."

Torn looked over his shoulder and he almost laughed, it was only Errol, "Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" He asked mockingly. Errol just glared at him. "Are you going to arrest me? Do you expect me to just give in because you have a gun?" Torn stalled; reaching for one of the guns that he kept at his sides. Errol had never been a strong fighter; his skills rested in getting others to fight for him, Torn knew this very well. And it seemed that Errol had made the mistake of coming alone.

"I'm not going to arrest you, I have a better idea. You are going to help the Baron and I."

"Why would I do that? If I don't, will you kill me?"

Errol smirked, "No, if I wanted you dead then I would just kill you here. But if you don't tell me what your precious underground is doing then I will see to it that the Baron knows of Ashelin's treachery. What do you think he will do to her when he finds out that his own daughter betrayed him?"

Torn's eyes widened in horror, he knew what would happen; the Baron would kill her without another thought. Torn hung his head in defeat, "Fine, you win. But I swear, Errol," He said, his voice going to a low and deadly tone, "If she dies I will kill you myself."

Errol smirked, "Now tell me everything." Torn told him a lot but he wouldn't tell him where the hide out was, mostly because if the guards just showed up then they would know someone had betrayed them and then they would lose their spy, this Errol bought. Also Torn didn't tell Errol about the kid, if he wasn't going to tell Ashelin then he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Errol that bit of info. At a point Errol was satisfied with what Torn had told him and allowed him to leave. Torn felt sick to his stomach, he had betrayed all his friends just to protect Ashelin and she would never know. Errol, on the other hand, was felling very good about himself. The Baron was going to be pleased with everything that Errol had to tell him. Even if that meant that Ashelin would be killed, that was not Errol's problem.

The next day at the underground hideout, Aida was in the play room with the Kid; Keira had daycare so there wasn't really no one else that Mar wanted to play with, Kor tried to play with him, but Mar didn't like him, everyone figured that he just had to get used to him, after all Kor was the first new person that Mar had met in almost three months. So Kor just sat in a corner of the room and watched the two play. Then the door opened and Tess walked in, "Aida, you know that guy that you brought in yesterday? He's awake."

Kor looked up at her with a bit of a relieved look. Aida looked at him as well, "Well, that's good." She looked at Mar, "Let's go see him." she took Mar's hand and the four of them left the room.

In the infirmary, the man that Aida had brought in was looking around, "Where am I?" He asked the doctor. "Who are you?"

"Most people just call me 'Doc'."

"You don't have a name?"

"I have one, just easier if I go by Doc. but my real name is Charlie. Now, what's your name?"

"Um… I don't know." he smiled, "Sorry Charlie."

Charlie rolled his eyes, "And that's why I go by Doc."

The door opened and Kor, Aida, the kid and Tess walked in. "Victor," Kor said. "you're alright." He said, relieved.

Victor looked at Doc, "I guess my name's Victor." He looked back at everyone. "Do I know any of you?"

"Victor, you know me. I'm Kor, remember?"

Doc looked at them, "It seems that our friend here has amnesia."

Aida walked over to him with Mar following her, Victor got a good look at her, "Oh please, tell me that I know you _very_ well."

Aida laughed a little, "Nope sorry, you were out cold when I found you."

Mar tried to climb up onto the bed, Victor looked at him, "Is this kid yours?" He asked.

Aida's eyes widened, "What?! No, he's not mine."

Victor looked at everyone else, "I still don't know where I am."

Kor walked over to him, "Do not worry, there is plenty of time to catch up, for now you should rest."

"Rest?" Victor asked, "Rest is for the wicked." He got out of bed but the sudden movement made his head spin and he fell back onto the bed.

"You need rest my friend, those Metal-heads nearly killed you. If not for Aida-"

"Sorry," Victor said, "But what's a Metal-head?" Everyone started to laugh, even Mar did, thought he didn't know what was funny.

"I wish I could forget what they are." Tess said.

Aida looked at everyone, "Why don't you all go I'm going to stay here and help Victor remember what is going on." Everyone started to leave but Mar stayed. Aida looked at him, "Go on kid. Go back to the play room, I'll be back later."

"Kid." Kor called.

Mar looked up at Aida, "Go on. It's okay." Mar didn't want to go but he did anyway.

Victor and Aida watched Mar and Kor leave. Victor looked at her, "Are you sure that little boy's not your kid?"

Aida looked at him, "Yep, hard to have a kid when you've been single your whole life."

"Well if he's not yours, then who is he?"

"The prince."

"The prince?" Victor looked around the room, "I'm not in a palace, am I?"

Aida laughed a little, "No, quite the opposite. This is the underground hideout, the king and his family was betrayed a while back- so now we're trying to de-thrown the Baron."

"Who's the Baron?"

Aida shook her head and told him everything, and over the next three days Victor had met everyone in the underground. Keira, who always liked new people, liked to play hide-and-seek with him, Mar and Aida. They would use the whole underground hide out and at one point they surprisingly got of the underground to play… this was a lot of fun until Torn and Samos reminded them that they were trying to stop the Baron.

However every so often Aida, Victor and even Tess were sent out on missions and the two toddlers were left with Kor. Who would all but ignore Keira and give all his attention to Mar, but Mar didn't even like him. But he quickly learned that when Kor was in charge there was nothing for it but just put up with it. Kor liked having Mar next to him at all times and preferred it if Keira was nowhere near him or Mar. But that was only when it was just him with the toddlers, if anyone else was there he played with both of them, not that Mar wanted him to.

Aida, however, didn't know that Mar and Keira were unhappy, she thought that they were happy as could be with Kor so she started to spend more time alone with Victor. The two were happy, Aida kept trying to help him regain his lost memories but it did no good. Victor didn't really care though he felt that is was better to make new memories and forget the old.

Aida liked spending time with him but she wanted him to remember everything so she would encourage him to spend time with Kor, hoping that the old man could help bring back Victor's lost memories. But Victor liked spending time with Kor about as much as Mar did. There were holes in his memories but every time Victor talked to Kor he just felt afraid, he didn't know why Kor, was his friend, wasn't he? And the funny thing was that every time he'd talked to Kor he felt that he remembered less. But that couldn't be right, the only time he felt good was when he was away from Kor.

Kor was strange, when there was someone else to watch Keira and the kid, he seemed to just disappear. What was he up to? Victor told the others but they told him that he needed to stop worrying; Torn kept telling him that they had bigger things to worry about then what an old man was doing. Victor just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong about Kor. One day he followed him out to dead town; Kor walked deeper and deeper into the dead place, he stopped and Victor hid behind a crumbling building, Kor took out a holographic communicator and put it on the ground and then something that Victor would have never thought possible happened: Kor seemed to shed his skin like a snake and the old man was replaced by a giant Metal-head. It was the Metal-head leader! Victor was too stunned to move; he just stood there watching as the communicator turned on and the image of another old man appeared but he seemed to have his back to him. Kor saw what looked like an exterminator's zoomer go past and that didn't not make him happy, "Why is that last exterminator company still operating?" He asked.

The man turned around to look at Kor, "The owner, Osmo, proven… ah… difficult to discourage."

"Well then, help him down the path of despair!" Kor seemed to yell, "I can't have this Osmo interfering with my plans, we finally infiltrated Haven's security wall and I don't want some wrinkled old exterminator getting in my way."

The other man gave a small bow, "I have it handled grate one, I assure you. He's got some new hired help but it's only a matter of time before I-"

"Close him down! Soon!" Kor said, cutting him off, "Or else I'll be doing some exterminating myself." Kor turned off the communicator and looked in Victor's direction, "I know you are there, come out, Victor." Victor gulped and came out from behind the wall; he looked Kor right in the eye. Kor laughed, "Look at you, you think I'm your enemy?"

"You're a Metal-head, of course you're my enemy!" Victor clenched his fists, "and I'm going to tell everyone who you are."

"But Victor, I'm not your enemy. We are the same."

"What are you talking about? We're not the same; I'm not a Metal-head."

"Oh but you are, I'm not the only Metal-head that can change my form to one of an elf. But you are more of a younger breed. Young and reckless, I had to gain the trust of the underground to get close to the kid, so I used you. I knew that that woman would be in the forest that day."

"How could you've have known that?" Victor asked.

"Although you and I cannot access the city's wall in our true forms, our smaller brothers can."

"What?"

"Our little Metal-bugs have infiltrated the city they have been here for more than a month and have found homes in some of the city's most important places along with some of the places outside the city's walls."

"Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I believe this shit you're telling me; why would you need me?"

"An old man like me fighting off Metal-heads and living wouldn't be believable. I needed someone who could look young and strong. That is where you came in. But like I said, you are a young one and therefore not trained properly and so to stop you from killing everyone you saw I took your memories away. Giving you a clean slate, a way to absorb what the elves told you so you wouldn't kill them. You had to think you were one of them or you would destroy my plan."

"And what is that?"

Kor laughed, "That I'm not telling you." Kor got close to Victor's face, "I would keep your mouth shut about what we've talked about here."

"Oh yeah, and what is stopping me from telling everyone the truth?"

Kor bared his fangs into a smile, "You like that Aida girl, don't you? If you let slip one word about this then I will see to the death your precious pet."

Victor's eyes widened, "**Don't you dare touch her**!"

"Don't give me reason to." Kor turned back into the old man and began to walk back to the city. Victor had no chose but to follow. He didn't really believe that he was really a Metal-head but he couldn't let anything happen to Aida, he cared about her too much.

In the slums of the city Mutt kept up his search for Mar, being that Mutt couldn't get far on his own he started following the guard that had been taking care of him to work, and go on patrols with him, just to cover more ground. The other guards love having Mutt and the croca-dog became like their mascot; he would go on patrols with them and when they were at the fortress the guards would play with him. Even Errol couldn't help but play with the small croca-dog… but only if no one else was lookin'. As much as Mutt loved the attention that he was getting from all the guards, he still wanted nothing more than to find Mar if for no other reason than to make sure that he was alright. The guards didn't know that that was what Mutt wanted, in fact they didn't even know that his name was Mutt all the guards just called him 'pup' but that was fine. Every so often Mutt would just stay in the fortress and either play with Errol or just sleep. Errol would sometimes talk to Mutt about what was going on in the fortress- not that Mutt was really paying attention or even understood what Errol was talking about. All that Mutt knew was Errol liked talking about one thing or more rather one person that Errol was starting to see less and less since in keeping alive and was just waiting for the Baron to tell him that he could kill him. It was clear to Errol that is man was a freak; Errol would keep talking to Mutt about how no matter how much Dark eco was put into this man it just didn't affect him. Mutt didn't really care about what Errol was telling him; he was just happy to have someone to pet him.

Several days later, Aida, Victor and Tess were watching/playing with the toddlers. Aida was worried about Victor; over the last week he had been acting strange and every time she would ask him about it he would tell her that it was nothing and then he would walk away from her. He also would volunteer to go on missions every chance he got and he would go alone. Aida asked why he all of a sudden wanted to go on missions alone; his answer was always that he just wanted to kill the Metal-heads. But for now he was more of his usual self, meaning that he was a bit more care free. Mar liked playing with Victor; his favorite thing was hiding and having Victor find him, even though there wasn't many places to hide in the play room Victor would at least pretend that the kid had vanished, even if he was just hiding behind Aida or Tess. Keira also liked Victor a lot more then Kor and the two toddlers were happy that the old man wasn't there.

Victor was also happy that Kor wasn't there, he didn't care where he was but he was glad it was away from him and Aida. Victor had been debating with himself on whether he should tell Aida what Kor was and what he might be or not. He knew that Kor wasn't joking about killing Aida but if they were careful then they could kill Kor and end one of the problems that the underground was dealing with. The only reason that Victor hadn't tried to kill Kor by himself was because really… he was scared. One slipup would mean his life and he didn't want to be killed knowing that Kor was still fooling everyone.

Victor made up his mind; he looked at Aida who was playing with Keira. He walked over to her and grabbed her arm, she looked at him, "I need to talk to you."

Aida looked at Keira and the kid. "I'll be right back." She said to the toddlers and then followed Victor out of the room leaving Tess with the kids. The two of them walked into a one of the empty rooms of the hideout, "All right what is it?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Victor took a deep breath and looked at Aida, "You are not going to believe me." Aida rolled her eyes, "All right, here it goes… A week ago I followed Kor out to Dead Town and there he turned into the Metal-head leader."

Aida just looked at him, not knowing what to think. She shook her head, "Victor, are you okay? How could Kor be the Metal-head leader? Metal-heads can't get into the city. Not only that but he's an old man and I don't think the Metal-head leader is an old elf."

"That's just it though, he's not an elf. He can change into a Metal-head whenever he wants, and when as an elf he can get in the city. And… that's not even the worst part..."

"Then what is?" Aida asked, she didn't really believe any of this and more of thought that this was something he saw in a dream and that he mistook for reality.

Victor couldn't even look at her, "He said that… that I'm a Metal-head too, and that I can't remember my past because he took my memories away."

Aida looked at him and smiled, she put a hand on his shoulder which got him to look at her, "Well if you are a Metal-head then you're the best one I've ever met." She put her hand on his scarred cheek, "Just don't change okay?" She moved closer to him and kissed him.

Victor let himself forget everything for one moment and kissed her back. The two pulled apart and looked at each other, "So, let's say that I am a Metal-head, would you still like me?"

Aida smiled, "I don't care what you are as long as you stay the man I've come to love."

Victor smiled, "You don't believe me do you?" He asked her.

Aida shook her head, laughing a bit, "Victor, what you're saying is crazy."

Victor grabbed her shoulders, "You have to believe me, Aida. He said that if I told anyone then he would kill you. You have to believe me if for no other reason than to protect yourself."

"Victor, calm down. Now listen, what you're saying is completely crazy, and without proof then I can't believe you."

"I _can_ prove it. Kor had to have gone back to Dead Town to talk to that other man."

"What other man?" Aida asked. Victor didn't answer; he just grabbed her wrist and started to lead her too Dead Town. They ran right past Torn and Samos and didn't bother to tell them what was going on; all that Aida managed to tell them was that they were going to Dead Town.

When the two got there, Victor lead Aida to where he had followed Kor to last time, and what Aida saw made her mouth fall open. There, standing _right_ front of her, was the Metal-head leader himself. Victor held her shoulders so she wouldn't go and try to fight him. Kor was talking on the communicator and he didn't seem happy, "Once again you have failed and I must contemplate on how to exact pain for your misservice."

"Why is this Jak creature so important?" Aida heard another man ask, "And that annoying orange fur bag, he's nothing but a trifle."

"You have no idea how important they both are to the cosmos. Daxter must not be allowed to rescue Jak. Do you understand?"

"I will see to it personally."

"Yes. But if you fail maybe that orange rat can still be of service."

"I WILL NOT FAIL! This isn't over yet."

"If Daxter breaks the eco user out of prison, this… Jak, I can still beat them outside in disguise." Kor laughed and changed back into his elf form right in front of Aida, her mouth hung open in shock. "I can still get what I want." The other man mumbled something that Victor nor Aida could hear and the communicator turned off.

Victor began to lead Aida way, "Now do you believe me?" He whispered to her.

Aida nodded, she had never seen the Metal-head leader before and really she never thought she would ever see him. Then she looked at Victor, "We have to tell everyone as soon as we can."

"I agree, we need to get back as- AH!" Victor felt a stabbing pain in his leg.

The two looked down and saw a Striker. Aida stepped on it and looked at Victor, "Are you alright?" She asked. Victor didn't say anything, he collapsed onto the ground, "Victor?!"

"I warned him." Aida and Victor looked at Kor.

"No…" Victor pleaded weakly, "No, please. Please. Don't."

Kor's face stretched into an evil smile, "I'm not going to do anything… I'm ordering you, Victor, to kill her."

"You sick bastard, he wouldn't…" Aida hissed, but Victor started to get up, "Victor…?" But one look at him told Aida that he wasn't thinking for himself anymore, whatever was in that Striker's venom gave Kor a way to command Victor like a toy.

Back at the hideout, Tess came down with Keira and the kid following her, "Where's Aida and Victor?" She asked.

"Dead town I think." Torn said.

"What are they doing there?" Tess asked.

"I don't know. But I need Aida to get back here soon, I've got a job for her."

"What job?"

"I need her to go to the port and work at the Hip Hog and keep an eye on the owner, Krew."

"She won't answer her communicator and I can't get Victor to answer his either." Samos said.

"You don't think something could have happened?" Tess asked.

Keira tugged on her father, "Where Aida?"

Torn started to head for the door, "I'm going to go look for them. I've got a really bad feeling about this." He headed out the door.

Back in Dead Town, Kor just watched as Aida tried to reason with Victor but it did no good, "Victor, I'm not going to fight you!" She yelled at him as she dodged another blow.

"It does no good to plead with him. He can't hear you anymore."

Aida looked at him as he came at her again, this time she punched him in the face. He fell to the ground. He looked at her, "Aida…" He said, "Run." He trembled on the ground.

"I won't leave you, Victor! I can help you!"

"Just run." Victor was doing his best to fight back the venom that was controlling him but he could only do that for so long.

"I'll get help." She said as she started to run for the city. Victor had lost control again and was again Kor's puppet, he got up and chased after her.

Aida ran as fast as she could but Victor was faster than her. He tackled her, he grabbed her shirt and pulled her up and forced her into a corner. He grabbed a very big piece of broken glass and pulled it out of it's frame, the glass cut his hand but it seemed that he could no longer feel pain. Aida tried to fight back but he was stronger than she was. She grabbed his wrist and tried to keep him from stabbing the glass shard into her. Just a little ways away from them Torn stood watching all this in horror and trying to find the quickest way to them. He couldn't go through the water, it was so badly polluted that even touching it caused pain. He saw Kor and demanded to know what was going on. Kor told him that he didn't know, that he had just found them fighting.

Aida looked at Victor who had tears running down his face, "Victor." Aida pleaded.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as whatever freewill he had left him and he plunged the glass shard into Aida's chest, stabbing her through the heart.

He let her limp body fall to the ground; Torn was horrified by what had just happened. This couldn't have just happened; Aida couldn't really be dead, this had to be a joke that she and Victor were playing on him. She was going to get up and laugh at him, she **had** to. The three men just stood there for a moment but she didn't move. Victor just looked down at her with no feeling on his face. All of sudden nothing mattered to Torn anymore, he didn't try to find a way around the deadly brown water he went straight through it. Torn had never been so angry in his life, he pulled his dagger out of it's holder and ran Victor through with it. Victor didn't really seem to care he just seemed blank like he was dead before Torn stabbed him. But now he fell and was as dead as Aida was. Torn put his dagger back in it's holder and then he held Aida. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. It couldn't have been possible; Aida was too strong, to tough to die. And yet here she was, she had been like a sister to him and now because he had trusted a complete stranger she was dead and gone. He held her close "I'm sorry." He whispered as he started to cry.

Torn got a hold of himself, picked Aida up, walked back through the water which usually would have caused him pain but he just couldn't fell anything. He and Kor walked back to the hideout. When they got there Torn put Aida's body on one of the beds and Kor told Samos what happened. Tess came in, with Mar and Keira following her, she was shocked when Torn told her that Aida was dead but Mar wasn't listening to what they were saying, he went over to the bed. He climbed up on it and thinking that she was just asleep, he tried to wake her up but it didn't work, she wouldn't move. Mar started to shake her shoulder but she still wouldn't wake up. He had a very vague memory of something like this happening before, but the memory was blurry. Mar felt sad, he started to cry. Kor took Mar's hand and led him out of the hideout, no one tried to stop him. On the stairs Kor took out a small vial out of one of his pockets he took the cap off and made Mar drink it. It was a very small amount of Metal-head venom just enough to make Mar forget Aida. He had known that it was going to come to this and it suited his plans perfectly. Now Mar would have no memory of Aida, as far as the young boy knew Kor had always been the one watching him. Mar stopped crying and looked at Kor, confused; he wasn't sure what was going on. Kor took the boy's hand and let him out into the streets. Mar hadn't seen daylight for three months and the light of the setting sun hurt his eyes a little. After Mar was used to the light of day again the two of them started to walk, but to where Mar didn't know.

Back with the guard, he and his troops were heading back to the fortress, Mutt following them. But then Mutt saw a little boy just a little ways away from him. The dog barked and ran after the boy. "Aren't you going to call your dog back?" A guard asked.

The guard that was leading the group just laughed, "No, he'll meet me back home later, that's probably where he's going anyways." The troops kept walking but they got a tip about a sector harboring underground members and before they could call it a day they had to deal with it. On the upside where they had to go was close to the fortress anyways so he led his men on. Mutt ran to the boy but when he got there he found that boy wasn't who he thought he was. The boy cried for his mom and ran away from Mutt, who just sat there then. He looked around for the guard but he didn't see him so he headed for the place the guard lived.

It was dark by the time that Kor and the kid seemed to reach their destination. The two were outside the fortress and Kor seemed to be waiting for someone. However they weren't waiting long before Mar saw a man with shoulder length blond-green hair, a blue shirt and an orange… _something_ on his shoulder. Mar didn't know why but the man looked like someone he knew but he didn't know who. The two were coming closer to them, Kor saw them "Hello stranger," The man seemed to try to go around him but Kor just wouldn't let him, "My name is Kor. May I help-"

"You look like a reasonably smart man." The man said a bit strongly, he grabbed Kor, "I want information. Where the hell am I?"

The orange rodent jumped off of the man's shoulder and looked at Mar, "Um… sorry. He's new the whole conversation thing."

Mar wanted to pet the furry orange thing but he thought better of it and instead hid behind Kor, "Well my angry young friend," Kor said, "You were a guest of his magisty Baron Praxis. The ruler of glorious Haven city."

Mar kept looking at the orange thing, a bit confused. "I was just a guest in the good Baron's prison?" the man asked, clearly not happy.

"Inside a cell or inside the city, walls surrounded us both." Kor explained, "We are all his prisoners." Then Kor heard what sounded like guards coming up behind them and looked, the man looked at the Kid getting a slightly strange feeling of déjà-vu. "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Kor said, "I-I'd move on if I were you." He said, the boy did as Kor said.

"By order of his grand eminence, the grand protector of Haven city, Baron Praxis, everyone in this sector is here by under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitive. Surrender and DIE!"

The orange thing walked up to the guard, "Um… excuse me, sir. But don't you mean 'surrender OR DIE!?'"

"Not in this city." Kor said, backing away, "Protect us from these guards and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you."

Back at the Underground, Aida's body had been taken to the forest to be buried. Samos was trying to find the best way to tell Keira that Aida was never coming back, Torn was cleaning Victor's blood off his knife and Tess was outside crying. Aida had been her best friend, they had joined the underground together a year ago and now what was she supposed to do? Torn came out and found Tess crying, he walked over to her and put an arm around her. "What are we going to do?" She asked as she cried into his shoulder.

"Move on, I guess." Torn said, "It's what she would have wanted. She wouldn't have wanted us to just mope around." Torn smiled a little, "You know if she was here she probably would just say 'I'm dead, so what? Now I don't have to worry about it.'"

Tess wiped her tears away and looked at him, "You're right, she probably would look at it like it was nothing. But I'm going to miss her."

"I am too."

"And what about the kid? He was so attached to her… He must be so upset."

"That's probably why Kor took him away to get him away from Aida. I just hope that he doesn't let something happen."

Torn and Tess stood up, Torn was about to go back into the hideout when Tess stopped him, "Torn, I have to know what happened." Torn looked at her and began to tell her everything.

Back near the fortress, the man had become some sort of monster, his hair and skin turned gray, his eyes became a deep black and his fingernails had become long black, deadly claws. Kor did his best to keep the kid from seeing this, even though the kid didn't like that, all the kid saw was the man defending himself and guards trying to hurt him. When the last guard fell the man changed back, "That was cool!" The rat said, "Do it again."

The man was shaking a little, "Something… happening to me. Something he did, I can't control it."

Kor and the boy had come back to the man, "Very impressive." Kor said.

"Ah… you okay Jak?" The rat asked, clearly not listening to what Kor had said.

"What you just did was very brave," Kor gestured to the kid "this child is important."

"This Kid?" Daxter asked, walking up to Mar and pointing at him. Mar covered his eyes, "He looks kind of scruffy."

A guard in a hellcat came up, "You are in a restricted zone," he said, "move along." Mar glared at the back of the hellcat as it drove away, he didn't think the guys in red were good guys.

"Thank you for your help," Kor said to Jak and his small orange friend, "But I must get this boy to safety."

"HEY!" The rat yelled, "What about us?"

Kor looked back at them, "There is an underground group waging war against Baron Praxis. It's leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you. Go to the slums, find a dead end ally near the city wall, ask for Torn. He can help you." Jak just nodded, his friend jumped back up onto his shoulder and the two were off, Kor watched as Jak jumped into a flyer that was parked outside of someone's home, then the flyer took off, heading for the hideout. It seemed that Jak didn't care much for the speed limit, because he was gone. Kor smiled to himself and looked down at the boy, "I think that's enough fresh air. Let's go back to the hideout." Mar followed Kor as the two of them walked back. On the way back Kor called Torn and told him who was coming his way.

**Jet: Like I said, there was a lot to go into this chapter. But I hope that it was as entertaining to read as it was for me to write.**

**Penny: You know Jet, the last time you did a long chapter Damas' parents died in Dead Town. And in this chapter you killed Aida and **_**where**_** did she die? In Dead town.**

**Jet: Well, it is called ****Dead**** town. Oh and Jak, see, there is no way you could remember most of the stuff that happened in the other chapters.**

**Jak: I drank some type of Metal-head poison when I was two? Really?**

**Jet: Yep, but to try to make it sound a little less strange, you pretty much got drugged.**

**Jak (Rolling his eyes): Yes, that sounds **_**so**_** much better.**

**Jet: Whatever. So back to My Little pony… Which pony do you like the most.**

**Jak: …**

**Jet: You like Rainbow Dash don't you?**

**Jak: Remind me, which one is Rainbow Dash?**

**Jet: The blue one with wings.**

**Jak: She's cool, but I have to say I did like the purple one a lot.**

**Jet: Oh really?**

**Jak: I liked her voice. I don't know why, but I did.**

**Jet (Big grin): Really?**

**Jak: What do you know that I don't? (Jet walks way) JET!**

**Penny: I'm starting to feel a bit left out here. (Holding Jet's Rainbow Dash plushy) Oh well, at least I go you Dashie. And to everyone, Jet doesn't know if Victor was really a Metal-head or if Kor was lying to him to get him to do what he wanted. So it's up to all of you whether he is or isn't. **


	5. Jak, Daxter and Torn

Chapter 5: Jak, Daxter and Torn

**Jet: Okay, the last chapter was really long and a lot happened so I'll try to be quick. Kor is in the story (run Kid) and he also brought a friend Named Victor. Aida falls in love with Victor and it's Disney romance- meaning that it only took like three days for the two to fall in love. The kid doesn't like Kor at all. Victor finds out that Kor is really the Metal-head leader- when Kor was talking to that one person from **_**Daxter**_**, I'm so glad that I got that to fit well. Then Kor tells Victor he's also a Metal-head, whether he is or isn't, is up to all of you. Kor tells him that if he tells anyone then Aida will die. Well Victor, wanting Aida to be safe, tells her everything. Then he takes her to dead town to prove it to her and then we get another cross over with **_**Daxter**_**. And the two of them get busted. Victor gets poisoned and thus Kor can control him. He makes Victor kill Aida. And then Torn kills him (Yes, I killed off the OCs, big shock.) then Torn takes Aida's body back to the hide out; Mar has a small flash back to when his mother was shot and this makes him cry. Then Kor takes him out of the hid out and makes him drink Metal-head poison; this makes him forget Aida and then they go to the fortress and then older Jak and Daxter show up, finally. Then that moment in the game happens and there's one thing I don't think was clear: the guard that said 'surrender and Die' is the guard that has been taking care of Mutt and Jak kills him. So that's it really. And just a heads up I'm not neglected Penny, okay?**

**Penny (crying): Well it feels like you are.**

**Jet: Penny, I'm sorry. (Hugs)**

**Jak: Go ahead and read.**

Torn hung up and looked at Tess.

"What was that about?" The she-elf asked.

Torn took at a deep breath, "Kor. He said that there's someone hoping to meet the shadow."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"We're not going to let him."

Tess looked at him away. "We're just going to turn him away?"

"I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. If this guy wants in, he's going to have prove that he wants to help us and that we can trust him."

Tess looked at her feet and inhaled thought her nose, "Okay, okay your right. After what happened today we can't be too careful. I don't want this guy anywhere near the kids."

"Yeah, there is a problem with that; the kid was with Kor, remember?"

"Then we'll keep Keira out of sight. There is nothing we can do about the kid." A flyer suddenly crashed into the side of someone's house as a young man, with an orange rat on his shoulder, jumped out. "I'm going to guess that's him." Tess whispered as the man started to walk over to them.

"_Great._"

Tess glared at the man as he walked closer. "We're looking for a guy named 'Torn', Kor sent us." Torn walked up to the man, glaring into the man's face. "Um… are you Torn?" The man asked.

"Maybe this guy's a mute," the rat spoke, "like you use to be."

The fact that there was a talking rodent didn't seem to bother Torn as much as it should, but with what had happened today he didn't think anything was going to surprise him anytime soon. Torn just continued to glare at the two, "New faces make me nervous." Torn said, putting on a tough guy act- which he was very good at. "Word is your out to join the fight for the city. You know picking the wrong side could be… unhealthy." He said, trying to scare the young man off, he really didn't want any more new recruits.

The younger elf wasn't intimated, "We want to see the Shadow." He said.

Torn just laughed, "Not likely. If you want to join something, why don't you and your pet go join the circus?" The rat was about to protest this statement when Torn pulled out his knife. "Unless you've got the _fur_ for a really tough task." He said as he ran his knuckle over the blade, "Steal the Baron's banner from the top of the ruined tower and bring it back to me. Then maybe we'll talk." He threw the knife into the air it spun a few times before he caught it by the handle. The two men and the rat just looked at each other, "Well, what are two just standing around for? Go to dead town and get it if you want to get in."

The younger man crossed his arms, "Where is Dead town?" He asked.

Torn and Tess looked at each other, confused, then Torn looked back at the man. "Have you been living under a rock for the last few years?" He asked.

"No, prison." The young man said in a very low tone.

Torn's eyes widened, then he shook his head, "Just go up here and take the first right, when you come to the next turn make another right, you'll be in another alley. Go to the end of it and you'll find a wall lock in a ditch that will take you right to dead town. As for finding the banner, you're on your own." The man just nodded and walked back to the flyer that somehow was still in working order after crashing the way it did. As he turned the corner Kor and the kid came into view. Torn glared at the old man as he walked up to him, "What were you thinking? Telling some random guy about us? Did you already forget what happened today?"

Kor just looked at Torn, "He saved us from the guards, he's a powerful man who will bring of great help to our cause."

"Did you just say the guards!?" Torn looked at the kid- he seemed fine- Then he looked back at Kor, "That is why the kid doesn't leave the hideout. If the guards get him then we have nothing."

"The guards were not going to get him. I can assure you of that."

Tess went over to the boy and knelt down, "Do you want to go play with Keira?" She asked. The boy nodded and took Tess' hand.

Torn looked at her, "Let Samos know what's going on, I have to go to dead town." Kor watched him go and then followed Tess into the hideout.

Tess took the Kid to the playroom where Keira had calmed down a little. The small girl was holding the stuffed Muse and was sitting in one of the back corners of the room as the last of her tears fell down her face. Somehow the one-year-old had understood what her father had told her perfectly and she knew that she was never going to see Aida again. Mar came over to her and sat next to her, he didn't know why she was so upset but he didn't like it; he poked her and she looked at him still with tears in her eyes. Mar just smiled at her to try to cheer her up; Keira gave a sad smile as well, she was still a bit upset but how could she be upset when her best friend looked so happy? She hugged him, Mar was a bit confused by this but he just hugged her back.

Samos, Tess and Kor just looked at the toddlers. Tess told Samos about the man and the rat that wanted to join the Underground and what Torn had said. Samos just nodded his agreement, "After today we can't be too careful." He looked at Kor, "What were you think? Telling this man about us anyways?"

Kor looked at the two, "I was just thinking he could be useful. You should have seen him; he took on a good number of guards on his own. He can become some kind of monster."

Tess looked at Samos, "He said that he had been in prison, but for how long, I don't know. Must have been a long time because he doesn't seem to know where anything is."

Samos looked at Kor, "Does Torn know about what this man can do?"

Kor shrugged but Tess answered, "No. It's not like the guy walked up and said, 'I want to join the underground, oh by the way I'm a monster.'"

"And you mentioned a rat thing. This man has a pet?"

Tess scratched the top of her head, "Well, I wouldn't say that exactly. The thing talks, I don't think it's a pet. And to be honest... it's kinda cute." Kor and Samos looked at her, she looked at the two, "I like small furry animals. Sorry for being a girl." She almost yelled at them. Not wanting to make Tess mad the two men dropped it and looked back at the toddlers who were now playing; Keira looked a lot happier now that she had her friend to play with.

Torn walked into Dead Town, he didn't know where the man or the rat had gone and at the moment he didn't care. He walked to where Victor's dead body still lied. He looked down at the lifeless corpse that just a few hours ago had been a living man. It look like he had stopped bleeding from the fatal stab wound that Torn had given him. Torn just glared down at the man with regret in his eyes, he blamed himself for Aida's death. He had known that just letting some random guy into the Underground was a bad idea and now because of his carelessness Aida was gone forever. He didn't think that just leaving a body just lying there was a good idea but he didn't feel that Victor deserved to be buried like Aida. So he just he just pushed Victor's body into the deadly water, the bacteria in it would destroy the body, it would take a while but in a few weeks there would be nothing left of him. That –in Torn's eyes- was what Victor deserved; to be forgotten. Torn just stood there for a little while and then he walked; he found a spot where he could see the top of the tower, he watched as the man and the rat fall and heard one of them screaming. Then the man landed in front of him with the banner in hand and the rat fell onto his face, then there was a load cracking sound and Torn looked up at the tower just in time to see it collapse in on it's self. After what happened today he didn't think it was possible for anything to surprise him, he stood corrected. His mouth hung open in surprise, "Yeah." He said looked back at the two, "I guess you guys are in." He said, with a bit of a smile.

The man put down the banner, knelt down and poked at the rat, "Hey Dax, you okay?" He asked.

The rat looked at him, "I've had worse falls. Just today alone. He said, getting up to jump up onto the man's shoulder.

"Come on," Torn said, "Let's head back to the hideout." The three started to walk back, leaving the banner there. Torn looked at the two, "What are your names anyways?" He asked.

The rat looked at Torn, "I'm Daxter, and don't you forget it. And my friend here is Jak. Trust me on this one; don't make him mad."

Torn just looked at the two, "And why is that?"

Daxter looked at his friend, "You want to tell him or should I?" Jak just glared at him, "Alright, I'll tell him." He looked back at Torn, "See, when Jak here was in prison, he was tortured by the baron with some Dark eco thing. And now get him mad and he turns into a-"

"Monster." Jak finished.

Torn looked at him shocked, he had seen The Dark Warrior program before. He had seen it used on one of the prisoners and it had killed him- that was what had made him quit being a guard in the first place. The three didn't say anything else the rest of the way back to the hideout. When they got back they found the kid in his bed fast asleep. Torn looked at Jak and Daxter, "You two should get some sleep as well, I'll have something for you to do tomorrow, I'm sure."

Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder, curled up on the end of a bed and fell asleep. Jak just looked at Torn and paused awkwardly, "... mind if I take a shower?"

Torn pointed to the door on the side of the room, "Right trough there, forth door on the left."

"Thanks."

"Don't use all the hot water." Torn yelled at Jak's back. Jak ignored him and walked away. Torn rolled his eyes, this guy was going to be a nightmare. He looked at the kid sadly, he felt bad. That little boy had been so close to Aida, and it was his fault that he would never see her again. Hadn't that poor kid been through enough? He was only two after all and already he had lost is home, his parents and now he had lost Aida. How much could that kid take?

Jak walked out back into the main room of the hideout holding his bag, goggles and shoulder pad; the room was darker then when he had left it. He had used all the hot water, not that he cared since it was nice to have a long warm shower after everything he had been through the past two years. He looked at the sleeping kid; what was such a little kid doing here anyways? Still, Jak could help but to smile a little at the sleeping child ...he was just so peaceful. Jak was a bit envious; the kid most likely didn't even know what was going on in the city. Jak looked away from the kid and walked over to the bed that Daxter was sleeping on, he took off his boots and put his bag, goggles and shoulder pad next to them on the floor. Then he laid down and almost instantly fell asleep; it wasn't the softest bed in the world but it a hell of a lot nicer than the bed he had in prison the past two years.

Mutt was curled up outside of the guard's house; he had been waiting for him for a long time. He was just lying next to the door, a few guards walked by and Mutt got excited and stood up, wagging his tail but none of them even looked at him. The pup sat back down and whimpered a little, he lied back down and fell asleep.

The next day Torn was awoken by his communicator. He picked it up as he rubbed his eyes, "What?" He asked roughly; if there was one thing he hated it was being woken up.

"Torn," Ashelin's voice came out of the communicator.

Whatever anger he felt was gone now; he stared back at the communicator, "Ashelin, what's going on?"

"You've got a problem." She said, "My father has turned off all the water in the slums."

"WHAT?!" Torn asked, "He getting that desperate to take us down?"

"I think it has less to do with you and more to do with the fact that he wasn't too happy with Errol."

"What happened?"

"I guess Errol let a prisoner escape last night. I don't know. But that's not important right now. Right now you need to get slum's water back on."

"And how am I going to do that?"

"There is a valve at the Pumping Station, if you open it, it should get the water flowing again." Ashelin looked over her shoulder, "Look Torn, I've got to go. Get the water back on as soon as you can." And she hung up.

Torn got up, got dressed and walked out the door. He was about to walk out of the hideout when he saw Jak and Daxter still asleep. He decided that why should _he_ have to go to the Pumping Station? There had to be other things he had to do for the underground; so he waited for Jak to wake up.

A little later the kid woke up. He looked around and saw the orange thing he had seen the night before just sleeping. He walked over to the bed; Torn watched him, he wasn't going to try to stop him, why would he? Mar reached out and started to pet the sleeping rodent, the fur was soft and very nice to touch. Daxter didn't even seem to be bothered by this at all, he didn't even wake up. Mar then looked at Jak; he walked over to him, grabbed his goatee and pulled it. This woke Jak up; he wasn't mad at the kid, how could he, the kid was only a toddler. Most likely he didn't know any better, but Jak still glared at the kid who just smiled up at him, "You think that was funny, don't you?" He asked. The kid just started to laugh. Jak just shook his head and got out of bed, then he shook Daxter awake.

Daxter got up and looked at him with a sleepy look in his eye, "What you'd wake me up for? I was having a nice dream where I was surrounded by beautiful women. Most of them topless." The perverted rat said.

Jak shook his head as he pulled on his boots, "Nice to know that some things never change." The kid grabbed Jak's hand and started to tug on it. Jak just looked at him, "Why don't you just go play somewhere else, okay?" He said, trying to be nice to the little boy but he just wasn't in the mood to deal with him. The kid let go of his hand and just looked up at him, "Go on, _maybe_ I'll play with you later." The kid smiled; that was enough for him, he ran to the door and headed for the play room.

Daxter jumped off the bed and headed for a nearby pipe. He looked at Torn, "Hey tattoo face, is this a water pipe?" He asked, as Jak came to stand next to Torn.

"Usually." Torn said, he would have warned anyone else that the water was off but the rat needed to learn a lesson.

Thus Daxter got a mouthful of mud. He glared at Torn, "What the hell!?"

"The baron turned off all water to the slums." Torn said, "He's willing to sacrifice innocent lives just to destroy the underground. I shouldn't be surprised; I've seen his evil before while serving in the Krimson Guard, that's why I quit." He looked at Jak as if to say that he was never behind The Dark Warrior program.

"You were a Krimson Guard?" Jak asked, not knowing how to feel about that. So he made a bad joke; "Oh, well, that explains your charming sense of humor." He smiled a little but his crappy joke didn't make him feel better like he hoped.

Torn wasn't amused either, "My friend in the guard tells me the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city, at the Pumping Station."

"Outside the city, well what about the security walls?" Jak asked.

"What about the Metal-heads?!" Daxter asked. Jak didn't know what a Metal-head was, he had heard the Baron and Errol talk about them a little but he wasn't sure what they were, but from Daxter's tone he could tell it wasn't good. "It ain't a pettin' zoo out there, peeps be getting deep sixed!"

Torn ignored the rat, "Find the larger drain pipe in the north wall, it will take you outside the city to the Pumping Station. Get to the main valve and open it, if you survive, the slums will be indebted to you. If not, maybe we'll have a touching moment of silence in your honor." Torn said, making his own crappy joke.

Daxter was not amused. "I'd like to give him a touching moment." He mumbled as he walked over to Jak and jumped up onto his shoulder.

Jak looked at Torn, "How do you get to the Pumping Station anyways?"

Torn glared at the man and then picked up one of the papers off the table, "Here's map of the city. Now get going." Jak took the map and left.

In the playroom, Tess was watching the toddlers play. At a point Keira hit Mar on the back of his shoulder and she ran away giggling. It took Mar a minute but then he started to chase her. He was a lot faster than she was; he caught her and hit the back of her shoulder, Keira wasn't ready when he hit her and she fell, she hit the ground and started to cry. Mar stopped and looked at her; he hadn't meant to hurt her. He held out his hand to help her up and she took it, the young girl wiped her tears away... and then she pushed Mar over. Mar looked at her; she just smiled at him. He got up and pushed her over. The two kept this up for a while. Tess was amazed at how easily the toddlers were entertained.

Torn opened the door with Kor right behind him. Tess looked at the two men who were watching the toddlers push each other over, "What are they doing?" Torn asked.

Tess shrugged, "I don't really know, they're either fighting or playing, I can't tell."

"Kids are strange." Kor said.

Torn and Tess looked at him, and then Torn shook his head and looked at Tess, "Tess listen, I know you're going to hate this, but I need you to go the Hip Hog and keep an eye on the owner, Krew."

Tess looked at him, "Oh _no_! No no no no no. I am not going to a bar."

"Tess..."

"No, you know how much I hate the smell of alcohol; can't you get someone else to go there?"

"Yeah… the owner wants a woman to work for him."

Tess' mouth hung open, "Oh, so I have to work in a bar for that fat- um… _guy_!?" She didn't want to use foul language in front of the kids.

"Tess we don't have a choice here, you're the only girl in the underground."

Tess looked at the kids who had stopped pushing each other to listen to the adults, "What about them?" Tess asked, still trying to get out of this.

"That what Kor's here for, he's going to watch them." Torn said.

"No!" Keira yelled, running to Tess and hugging her leg. Tess looked down at her as the little girl pointed to Kor, "No, bad man." The toddler said.

Tess and Torn looked at the old man, "What is she talking about?" Torn asked.

"I have no idea." Kor said, "As I said; kids are strange."

Tess looked at Torn, "Please please please, send someone dressed as a woman for all I care. Just don't send me." She pleaded.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that I didn't want to send you? That… I wanted Aida to do this?" Tess stopped pleading like a child and looked at him, "I wanted her to go spy on Krew. No offence Tess, but she was way tougher then you."

"It was always true." Tess looked at her feet. "I'll do my best." Then she looked at Torn, "But I am so going to kill you for this."

Torn smiled a little, "Great, then Aida can kick my ass for all eternity."

"TORN! Watch what you're saying around the kids." Tess said as she picked Keira up and Mar walked over to them.

"Sorry." He said.

Tess rolled her eyes, "I worry if you ever become a parent."

"I don't plan to be one."

Tess put Keira down and walked out of the room. Keira and Mar tried to follow but Kor stopped both of them. As Torn followed Tess downstairs Keira walked away from Kor and went to play. Mar looked from Keira to Kor and then he went to go and sit next to Keira and started to play with her. Kor just watched the two, he didn't want Keira anywhere near Mar, but now that she had told Torn and Tess that she didn't like him he was going to have to be a bit more careful- the less time he had to be around the little girl the better. Tess left the hideout swearing that when she got back she was going to kill Torn.

Mutt was walking around the city looking for Mar. When the guard had not come home Mutt had given up on him and left to keep looking. Mutt walked and walked but he couldn't find Mar; he didn't have clue where he could be. He went back to the place that him and Mar had hidden in three months ago, hoping to pick up a trace of a scent but the food that had been left there had turned rotten and whatever scent of Mar that was there was masked by the exspired fruit. So now the pup had nothing to go on... Mutt just sat down and cried.

Back at the hideout, Jak and Daxter had come back after getting the water back on and Torn had another mission for them; he had sent them to the fortress to take care of some ammo. They had left about an hour ago- so by Torn's math they should be back soon. If they didn't get killed that is. Tess had called shortly after he had sent Jak and Daxter to the fortress, she was not happy; she had only been at the hip hog for about an hour and a half and she was already losing it a little. Torn told her that he would send someone to help her out as soon as he could. He was looking over the many papers that were on the table; if being Errol's spy had any advantages it was that the commander was a moron. Errol had contacted Torn a little while ago and the two had met but Torn told him that if he wanted Torn to send the underground members to the guards then he was going to have to know where the guards were. So Errol was kind enough to give Torn certain papers that the Baron would have never let Ashelin get her hands on. That was how he knew about the ammo; Errol had given him the papers. Sure being that Torn had sent Jak and Daxter state to the fortress was what Errol wanted, but Torn figured that he didn't really care for Jak or Daxter anyways. Torn put down the paper and then he took out his knife, he couldn't help but think about what he had done yesterday. He didn't regret killing Victor but now he didn't even know why he had killed her. He didn't even think to ask, he just killed him in cold blood.

Torn heard the door open and then Daxter jumped onto the table, "The demolition duo has returned!" Torn couldn't help but to roll his eyes, this rat was ridiculous, "One BBQ'd ammo dump, served up hot."

"We saw something odd wile torching that ammo," Jak said. "The Baron's guards were giving barrels of eco to a group of Metal-heads."

This got Torn's complete attention, "Really?" this was news to Torn, "The shadow will be very interested to hear that."

"You know," Daxter piped in, "your gigs have been easer then stealing grass from a sleeping yakow."

Torn laughed, "You and the rodent want to start proving yourselves? One of our 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered, a bag of eco ore. Take the zoomer parked out back and drive it to the Hip Hog Haven saloon in south town, ask for Krew, he'll be there. And don't let the Baron's patrols stop you. By the way, when you get there, pump Krew for information," Torn turned his back on them; "he's wired into the city and may know what the Baron is up to."

"You can count on us." Daxter said.

"Are you still here?" Torn asked not even bothering to look at them. He heard them leave and then he went back to looking at the papers on the table. He picked up a random paper; after about a minute of looking at it he realized something that he should have warned Jak about. He quickly picked up his communicator and called Jak, "Jak there's a guard road block, get out of there!" He yelled when Jak had answered. Jak didn't say anything, he just hung up. Torn hadn't known Jak very long but he knew the type of attitude that Jak had and he knew that Jak was not going to try to find a way around the block but run right through it. He tried to call again but Jak didn't even bother to pick up he tried again and got through, "they've set up a road block, they're on to you." Again, Jak didn't say anything, he just hung up. Torn glared at the communicator, he knew that Jak was going straight through the block like the reckless idiot he was. Torn heard the door open and the Kid and Keira came up to him with Kor behind them, Torn looked down at the Kids, "I hope that neither of you grow up to be reckless idiots."

Keira reached up at Torn, "Play." She said.

Torn smiled, it was hard not to, the little girl was just too cute. "Sorry Keira, I can't. Someone has to keep everyone doing their jobs. Go back to the play room."

"Play." Keira said again, grabbing one of the man's hands. Mar grabbed the other one and the two started to tug on him.

"Hey, let me go." He said to the toddlers. Keira's hands slipped and she fell on to her back. Mar stopped pulling on Torn and looked at her as she started to cry. Torn picked up the crying toddler and held her, "Easy Keira, easy. You're okay." He said, trying to calm her." Torn looked at Kor, "Why aren't you doing anything?" He asked the old man.

"What can I do? They wanted you not me, and the boy can open doors on his own so not really much I can do to keep him from leaving a room."

Mar pulled on Torn's pant leg and he looked down at the kid. The little boy yawned a little and Torn smiled, "You getting tired kid?" he asked. Mar shook his head stubbornly.

Keira had stopped crying, "Where daddy?" She asked, rubbing her eye a little.

Torn smiled, "You're getting tired too. I'll take you to your dad and he can put you to bed." Torn looked at the boy and then at Kor, he didn't think that Kor would be able to put him to bed. "Go get in bed, kid." He said, and to Torn's surprise the kid did as he was told. Torn watched him climb into bed; he just looked at the boy, the two-year-old listened to him better than Jak did. Torn smiled a little as he left the room with Keira.

Kor looked at the boy. The last member of the Mar line was right there already fast asleep, it would be so easy for Kor to kill him there and then, and no one would ever know what he had done. But the Metal-head leader didn't do it, he didn't know what it was about the boy but there was something that made him important, something that kept Kor from killing him. It drove him nuts, but he couldn't kill the little boy.

**Jet: Well that's the end of the chapter, this one took a while, believe it or not.**

**Penny: You had other things to do.**

**Jet: I know, I've been thinking of writing a book and getting it published.**

**Penny: You can't do that with your fics.**

**Jet: I'm not talking about my fics, I'm talking about a story that I've come up with on my own.**

**Penny: Oh.**

**Jak: JET!**

**Jet: What?**

**Jak: Would you tell me what the big deal is with Twilight Sparkle?**

**Jet: Watched a few more episodes, did you?**

**Jak: … Just tell me already.**

**Jet: Fine, the actress who did Twilight's voice is the same one who played the voice of Keira in games 3-TLF. That's why you like her voice, she sounds like your girl-friend.**

**Jak: You're kidding.**

**Jet: No, I'm not. So readers tell me what you think and I'll see you next time.**


	6. Friends and Foes

Chapter 6: Friends and Foes.

**Jet: Okay, I'm back and I'm sorry for the long wait but my school work must come first. Now, here's the thing, I don't really want to do a recap so-**

**Penny: WHAT?! You don't write anything for weeks and **_**this**_** chapter out of all of them you don't want to do a recap?! If there was ever a chapter to do one it's this one.**

**Jet: I don't care, really I'm just not in the mood to do it so I'm not going to. If people really do need it then they can just read chapter 5. That would be better then me trying to do a recap right now. I'm just not in the mood right now and if I try to do one then it's just going to come out bad. So everyone sorry if you really want a recap I just don't want to do one for this chapter. So read on my friends, read on.**

Torn found Samos in his room, he was looking at a few papers. Torn put Keira down and she walked over to him, "Daddy." She said sleepily.

Samos looked at her, "Hi Keira." He looked at Torn, "Where are the new recruits?" He asked.

"At the Hip Hog… if they didn't get killed by the guards." Torn said, agitated.

"Daddy." Keira said.

Samos looked at her and smiled, "You're sleepy, aren't you Keira?" He asked. Keira shook her head, Samos smiled, "I think it's nap time." Keira crossed her arms as Samos picked her up and put her in his bed, "You can just sleep in here."

He put her down, pulled the blanket over her and kissed her forehead. The little girl looked at him, "I wuv you daddy." She said, closing her eyes.

Samos smiled and ran his hand through her hair, "I love you too." He and Torn walked out of the room and let her sleep; they stood in the hall, "Alright, what's going on?" Samos asked. Torn filled Samos in on how Jak and mostly Daxter were driving him up a wall and it was only the first day. Samos laughed, "You need to be patient with them, I'm sure Jak will calm down- this is most likely the first breath of fresh air in a long time and with Daxter- well… just give them some time."

Torn crossed his arms, "Well, at least they can make themselves useful. I sent them to the fortress and they managed to take out all the missiles in that place without getting killed."

Samos smiled, "You see, they're not that bad. What I want to know is if you trust them?"

"About as much as I trust Errol." Torn mumbled.

"What?" Samos asked.

"Nothing!" Torn said quickly, he couldn't let Samos know that he was Errol's spy. "No. I still don't really trust them."

Samos shook his head, "So why did you send them to the Hip Hog?"

"Mostly because of Tess. She isn't too happy about being there."

"Well, we didn't have a choice, I'm sure she would have just been happy to look after the kids but that's what Kor's here for."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about Kor..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters; him and Victor were friends, how do we know we can trust Kor? Keira doesn't seem to like him very much and I find that she's tends to be a good judge of character. Also, I want to know what Kor was doing in Dead town when Aida died. How do we know he didn't have a hand in it?"

Samos looked at Torn, "Torn, we can't start mistrusting each other. Everything we've work for will fall apart if we do that. Although you do bring up a good point, what _was_ Kor doing out there?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out right now." Torn started to walk away and Samos followed him. They walked into the main room and found Kor just sitting and looking at the Kid as he slept; Torn found it a little creepy. He walked over to Kor who looked at him, "Kor, I need to talk to you. You said you found Aida and Victor fighting in Dead Town… but what were _you_ doing out there?"

Kor just looked at Torn a moment and then he said, "I had… friends who died in the attack there years ago. I go there every once in a while to… talk to them." The old man lied.

Torn couldn't help but to buy the story; Mostly because Torn would go to Dead Town and find his old house. It was the only place he felt that he could still talk to his parents. He had been sneaking out of the city to do that from the time he was twelve, so he couldn't help but believe Kor. He looked at his feet, "My parents died in Dead Town that day, I still go and talk to them too." He looked at the kid, the little boy didn't know it but some of his family had died there too. The attack had taken many lives and had ripped many families apart, it was a horrible day.

Mutt was walking in the industrial section of the city. He had just wandered in there as he looked for Mar. He looked at everything as he walked but he still couldn't find him. He sat down in the middle of the road and cried a little, but then out of nowhere someone put a leash on him; he looked, it was dog catcher. The leash was really a long pole with a rope on the end that went around Mutt's neck. It had been a long time since Mutt had to deal with this; the last time he had to he had found a family to adopt him, that was a long time ago… but Mutt still remembered his tricks. He grabbed the pole with his teeth and forced it into the man's gut; causing him to let go, the rope loosened and Mutt slipped out of it. He ran down the street until he found a group of guards. One of them he recognized to be Errol and he ran in front of him. The other guards recognized Mutt from the fortress and were happy to see him. The Dog catcher came up to them and put the rope back around Mutt's neck, "Got you now, you crazy stray."

"He's not a stray." One of the guards said, "He's our dog." He looked at Mutt, "Isn't that right pup?" Mutt just barked a little. The dog catcher just walked away, he wasn't going to argue with the guards. Mutt started to walk with them, at least this way he didn't have to worry about being caught.

The next day Keira was at day care; which meant that Mar was stuck with Kor who was no fun at all, really he just kept Mar in the play room and just watched him. Poor Mar was just miserable without his friend but she wasn't going to be back until much later, and Kor was just going to keep him locked up. Mar knew that Kor wouldn't play with him so he didn't even try to get him to; he just sat in the far side of the room next to a pile of stuffed toys. Samos walked in and saw Mar just sitting there looking so lonely. Samos looked at Kor, "He looks so sad. Why don't you play with him?"

Kor looked at Samos, "He doesn't want me to." Kor lied.

Samos looked back at the Kid, "Well once my daughter comes back he'll perk up."

Kor looked at Samos, "You know, I'm beginning to get the feeling that Torn doesn't trust me."

"You'll have to forgive Torn; Aida and him were close. I've noticed that he is a bit different with her gone and you came to us with the man who killed her claiming he was your friend. I think he's holding you somewhat responsible for her death."

"But I had nothing to do with it. I told you why I was out there."

"Yes, I know, but there's no one else he can blame for it except himself and I can assure you he does also blame himself."

"Regardless, we're a rebellion; people are going to die, he needs to get over it." Kor said. Samos shook his head and looked back at the sad little boy in the room.

The hours ticked away and Mar didn't move, he just sat still and quiet in the play room as people came in and out just to see if he was okay. Usually when Keira was at day care he would play with Aida but now he didn't have her... he didn't even remember her, so he would just sit quiet and alone. He heard the door open again and thought that it was just another random person coming to see if he was okay but then that someone ran into him and he fell forward as Keira giggled, "Hi Kid!" Mar looked at her over his shoulder and smiled. The two toddlers got up and started to play together.

In the main room of the hideout Torn was looking over his papers, just looking to see if there was anything he could do. The door to the hideout opened and Daxter's voice came in followed by the duo, "I swear, I'm never going to get the smell of that sewer out of my fur."

Torn looked up as they walked in, "What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"We found what we needed." Jak said, "There was no point in us staying."

Torn shook his head, "Well then what did you find out?"

Daxter jumped up onto the table, "The Baron made a deal with the Metal-head leader. He's giving them eco so they will attack the city when he needs them to."

"What?" Torn asked.

"He's also looking for some kid." Jak said, "Something about him being the true ruler of the city."

"Alright," Torn said, "You two can go take a break, there's nothing for you to do right now." Jak and Daxter walked to the door on the side of the room, leaving Torn alone again.

The duo walked into an empty room. Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder and Jak just laid down on the bed. "You know," Daxter said, "I'm getting the feeling that tattoo face doesn't like us."

"I don't care." Jak said, looking up at the ceiling, "As long I can get my hands on the Baron, I don't care what anyone thinks of me."

Daxter jumped up onto the bed and sat on the edge of it, "You know Jak... you've changed a lot."

"What were expecting Dax? Were you expecting to find the same happy, mute kid from Sandover? Because he died in that prison, I'm all that's left."

Daxter was quiet a second. "You know... I wonder what Keira or Samos would think about you now."

The two were quiet for a minute, then Jak spoke, "Dax, you've been running free for two years right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No, I haven't seen them since we left Sandover." He said looking down at the floor, felling a bit sadden by this fact.

Jak sighed through his nose, "I wish we never went to Misty Island that night. None of this would have happened if I'd just listened to Samos or just let you stay behind like you wanted to. You never would have fallen into that Dark eco pool and we never would have found that ring."

Daxter looked at Jak, raising an orange brow, "…Yeah… then we never would saved the other sages and we never would have stopped Gol and Maia. The world would have ended then; that's a _much_ better reality."

"At least then it would all be over, there wouldn't be any more suffering and all this would never have happened." Daxter looked at him and then he hit him; Jak looked at his small friend, "What was that for?" He asked.

"For being an idiot. How can you regret everything we did? We saved the world, we became heroes."

"Yeah, some hero's welcome we got when we came here. I don't know what you did the last two years, but I was tortured in that Hell hole they call prison! So sorry I don't have your optimism Daxter, but you're not the one who was changed into a monster!" Jak yelled. Daxter shrunk away from him a little. Jak went back to looking up at the ceiling, "...sorry Dax."

"It's okay buddy." Daxter said, curling up on the bed. Torn didn't have anything for them do at all that day so the two just stayed in that room all day.

It was getting late; Keira was already in her bed, Mar was walking down the hall to his bed when he found a door that wasn't closed all the way. He pushed it open and found Jak and Daxter sleeping; Mar walked in and crawled up onto the bed. He started to shake Jak's shoulder; Jak woke up and looked at him, "Kid? What do you want?" He asked, putting the pillow over his face groggily. The kid just started to pull on his sleeve. "Come on kid, I'm trying to sleep."

"What do you expect Jak?" Daxter added sleepily, "You told him you would play with him."

"I said I _might_ play with him and I said that a while ago." The kid kept tugging on him. Jak gave into it and got up. He looked at Daxter, "Remind me that I never want kids."

"Don't worry, the ladies always are looking at me anyways, I don't even think they see you most of the time."

Jak looked back at the little boy, "Who are you anyways kid?" He asked. Mar just looked at him, Jak smiled a little, "Don't talk much do you? I used to be like that." Mar just looked at Jak; there was something so familiar about him, something that made Mar feel safe. Mar didn't know why but Jak was like someone that Mar knew, but he couldn't remember who. Jak looked at the clock on the nearby table and then he looked back at the kid, "It's getting late kid. Shouldn't you be getting to bed?" The kid looked at Jak and shook his head Jak smiled and got up, "Come on kid, let's get you to bed." Jak got up and carried to small boy to the main room of the hide out and put him in the bed. Mar looked up at Jak. "Come on kid it's time for bed." Mar looked at Jak sadly and then laid down and began to fall asleep. Jak smiled at the boy and then turned and saw Torn looking at him, "What?" He asked, acting like nothing had happened.

Torn just shook his head. "Nothing," Torn said, "I'm glad you're here, I have something I need you to do."

"Well it's about time." Daxter said from the door. He walked over to the table.

Torn acted like he didn't see him, "One of the baron's mining operations is under attack by the Metal-heads."

Jak looked at Torn, "That's not our problem." He said not liking the idea of saving people who worked for the Baron.

"It is our problem when the foreman's one of the underground's best informants." Torn said, "His name is Vin and he's just valuable enough to save. Find the warp gate at the power station and use it to travel to the strip mine so you can rescue Vin's pathetic hide."

"HEY, tattooed wonder," Daxter yelled, jumping up onto the table, "how come we get all crappy missions?!"

"Because I. don't. like. you." He said, pausing after each word and pushing Daxter off the table.

Daxter fell onto his back and looked up at Torn, "Fair enough."

"Whatever deal the baron maid with the metal-heads, the city's eco is almost gone and his time is running out. If we don't get the kid back on the throne soon, there may not be a city left to defend."

Jak looked at the boy, "That Kid?" he asked, pointing at small child, "You want to put _that _little kid on the throne?"

"He's the prince." Torn said, "His place is on the throne."

"What about his parents, where are they?" Daxter asked, jumping up on Jak's shoulder.

Torn looked at the kid sadly, "They're most likely dead. The Baron overthrew the king a few months back. No one really knows what happened to the queen and the king was banished. He and the Queen are most likely dead, the kid's all we've got."

Jak looked at the kid sadly, knowing that that little boy was never going to know his parents; Jak had grown up the same way, not knowing anything about his parents or where he had come from. Torn shook his head, "Get going, Vin needs your help. Now." Jak and Daxter headed out. As they walked out they both looked at the little boy that was sleeping in the bed.

Torn also looked at the Kid, feeling bad for him; he shook his head and looked at the new papers he had gotten from Errol earlier that day. After a few hours of this he found something that made him worry: he found a paper that told him that the baron had sent Ashelin out to the pumping station that morning, he scrambled through the papers but none of the scout reports from that day had any news about her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the communicator she had given him last time they spoke. He tried to call her but she didn't answer. He threw the communicator at the hanging light- it hit it and the light began to swing. "What's with you?" Daxter asked as the two came up to the table.

Torn looked at them, "One of my old guard comrades was sent to the pumping station." Jak was listening but Daxter found it more entertaining to make faces when the light hit him. Torn acted like he couldn't see this. "There's been no word from the patrols and after what you guys ran into out there I'm afraid she may need some help."

Jak was more interested now, "Did you say she?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Don't even think about it." Torn said in a low tone. He couldn't ignore Daxter anymore; he grabbed the light and got in the ottsel's face, "STOP THAT!" He yelled, then remembering that the kid was trying to sleep he lowered his voice, "This is serious you moron."

Jak looked like he was about to hit Daxter when the rodent put up his hands, "That's right, don't mess with the sugar." Jak rolled his eyes.

Torn acted like nothing had happened, "This friend of mine has helped the underground many times before. Go to the pumping station and take a look around, render assistance if needed." He glared at Daxter, "Now get your squirly ass out of here." Daxter blue a raspberry at him but then Jak grabbed his small orange friend and walked out of the hide out. After they left Torn looked at the still sleeping kid and sighed a little, if only he could tell Ashelin about him- she could be even more of a help. Torn knew that she had been very close to the king and his family and Torn thought that if the kid could see her then maybe he would be happier. But that wasn't going to happen; Samos had told him that he wasn't allowed to tell her about the kid. But still; having the kid with Ashelin would be better than him being with Kor… right?

**Jet: Okay, I know the last few chapters have been looking a lot at Torn, Jak and Daxter but mostly Torn. That's partly because I really think that there was a lot to him that just was never looked at in the game. Also I'm not trying to rewrite the games which is why that when I come to a cutscene I keep all the lines the same. All I do is add stuff either before or after the scene ends.**

**Penny: You still should spend less time talking about Torn and more time talking about the kid.**

**Jak: Oh no, this is fine Jet. You can spend as much time as you want writing stuff about Torn. Leave my childhood alone.**

**Jet: Jak, I'm getting the feeling that you don't like my stories.**

**Jak: … I didn't say that.**

**Jet (Hands on hips): Well do you like them or not?**

**Jak: Um… Well…**

**Jet (Starting to cry): You don't like them. (Runs away crying.)**

**Penny (Glaring at Jak): Oh nice going, hero.**

**Jak (Running after Jet): Jet, come back. I'm sorry, they're not bad.**

**Penny: Don't worry people, Jet's not going to stop writing just because of this, so keep an eye out for the next chapter. Let's hope Jak can make Jet feel better.**


	7. A Rainy Day

Chapter 7: A Rainy Day

**Penny: See everyone? I told you that just because Jet was upset at Jak that doesn't mean that she's going to stop writing.**

**Jak: Come on Jet, I said sorry.**

**Keira: Jak? What am I doing here? And why's that kid crying?**

**Jet: I'm Jet and your boy-friend's a bit of jerk. He doesn't like my stories (Pouts lip).**

**Keira: I've read your stories and I like them.**

**Jet (Happy): You do?**

**Jak (Confused): You do?**

**Keira (Looks at Jak): Yes I do, why don't you?**

**Jak: Um…**

**Penny: I think we should leave them alone.**

**Jet: I think your right, so while they're talking we can read.**

Jak and Daxter didn't come back to the hideout that night. This made Torn worry; not about Jak and Daxter but about Ashelin. He couldn't get a hold of Jak all day so he didn't know if Ashelin was okay or not. When the kid woke the next morning he could see that Torn was worried; however, about what the two-year-old didn't know. He got out of the bed and walked over to the man and tried to climb up on to the table. Torn looked at the small boy and smiled, a very sleepy smile. The kid looked up at him, still hanging onto the table and smiled at him. "Hey, Kid." He said, "You know, Keira's in her room. Why don't you go and find her?"

Mar nodded, let go of the table, opened the door and walked down the hall to find his friend. He walked to her room and opened the door. She was still asleep in her bed. Mar smiled evilly as he walked over to her bed; he climbed up onto it and started to jump on the bed. Keira woke up, not really knowing what was going on; she looked at Mar and then glared at him, "Stop it." She said. Mar smiled and shook his head as he continued to jump. Keira got up and Mar stopped jumping as Keira glared at him. She pushed him onto the floor and then crawled back under the covers. Mar looked up at her as she started to fall back to sleep. Mar climbed back up on to the bed and just looked at her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him; even thought she had pushed him off the bed he was still smiling at her, she couldn't help but to smile as well. Giving up on the thought of sleeping a little more the small girl got up and the two toddlers jumped off the bed onto the floor. The two walked out of Keira's room and up to the play room.

Kor was nowhere to be seen- and that was fine to the two little kids, this meant that they could do whatever they wanted; so the two went up to the play room and started to play with the stuffed toys that covered the floor. Keira, who was still a bit tired, stretched and curled up in a pile of stuffed toys. Mar looked at her and then he started to put other toys on top of her like a blanket. Keira looked at him and smiled and then she started to fall asleep again. Mar just sat next to her as she slept, even if she was sleeping and not playing with him he was still happy she was there. She was the only friend he had and whenever she was there he was happier than he could remember being.

It wasn't until much later that Kor did return to the hide out. Torn looked up when he heard the door open hoping that it was Jak, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" Kor asked.

"I thought that you were watching the Kid and Keira."

"No, I haven't been here all day. Where are they?"

Torn just looked at him with his mouth hanging open a bit, "Are you telling me they've been by themselves all day?"

"Where is the boy?!" Kor demanded. When Torn couldn't give him an answer Kor went looking for him. He looked in the play room and found him playing, Keira had woken up and the two had been in the play room all day by themselves.

Kor walked over to Mar and grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, away from Keira. Mar didn't like this and tried to pull out of the old man's hand. Torn saw them; "Where's Keira?" He asked, but Kor didn't say anything. Torn walked up to the playroom and found Keira sitting there by herself, starting to cry. Torn walked over to the sad little girl, picked up a stuffed bear and moved it so it looked like it was dancing. Keira looked at it and smiled and then beginning to laugh she reached for the bear. Torn let her take it from him, and then he picked her up. "Have you and the kid been hiding up here all day?" He asked the little girl.

"Yes." She said.

Torn smiled and shook his head, "You know you're not allowed to go anywhere without a grown up." Torn said as he started to walk down the stairs.

"Where Daddy?" she asked.

"Um…" Torn said, "I don't know."

"Where Kid?"

"He's with Kor." They walked into the main room where they found Mar sitting sadly on his bed and Kor next to him.

Torn put Keira down and she ran over to him. Mar jumped off the bed so he could play with her but Kor grabbed the back of his overalls and held him back. Mar looked up at the old man as Keira came to stand next to Mar. She grabbed his hand and pulled on it, "Let's play." She said.

But Kor wouldn't let go of Mar so he couldn't go anywhere until Torn told him to let Mar go. Reluctantly, Kor let him go and him and Keira started play in the main room of the hideout. Much later that night Samos walked into the hideout and Keira stopped what she was doing and ran over to her father, "Daddy." She said as Samos picked her up.

Samos took Keira into the back rooms to put her to bed. Torn looked back at the Kid who - now that Keira had left - was laying on the floor, beginning to fall asleep. Torn looked at Kor but the old man was already walking out of the hideout; Torn shook his head and then he picked up the little boy and put him in the bed so he could sleep. No sooner had Torn put the little boy in bed that his communicator went off; He picked it up and was more than happy to fine that it was Ashelin, "Ashelin, where have you been?!" He asked.

"Don't worry about it. I just had to get out of the city, that's all, but I'm fine." She went quiet for a

minute and then she started to talk again, "Were you really so worried about me that you had to send a man and a rat to find me?"

Torn went a little red, "Well I didn't know what else to do. I mean, you said that you didn't want to meet me anymore. And when I found out-"

"How did you know that I've been missing?" Ashelin asked.

"Well…" Torn said, he couldn't tell her that he had gotten the info from Errol, she would never talk to him again if she knew that he was playing spy even if it was against his will. "I… I sent a spy into the guard." Torn lied.

"You… got a spy in the guard?" She asked, not fully believing him. "How did you do that? Who is it? I can help."

"I can't tell you. I'm not allowed." Ashelin went quiet and Torn just looked at the communicator, "I would if I could but the Shadow said that I can't."

Ashelin sighed, "Whatever, the point is that I'm fine and I don't need you to send some of your underground members just to see if I'm okay."

"Where are the members I sent?"

"I sent them to talk to Onin; I don't know where they went after that. And now that I'm thinking about it; I want to talk to you about the man. You do know that he's the one who broke out of the prison?

He's the one my father is after. And you need to be careful around him; he can become some kind of monster… I saw him do it."

"I know about all that. And don't worry, either the Baron will find him or _he'll_ find the Baron. Either way, they'll run into each other." Torn said, almost laughing.

"What do you mean?" Ashelin asked, a little worried.

Torn didn't know what to tell her, "Um… Well… a… d- don't worry about it."

Ashelin shook her head, "Look, I've got to go; I'll talk to you again when I can." And with that she hung up.

The next day came and one of the underground members had left to take Keira to day care. The sky was gray and cloudy; around mid day it began to storm. Although the hideout didn't have any windows the sound of the thunder could be heard all throughout the place. Mar just sat still listening to it, for some reason he liked it. Kor stayed close to the young boy even though pretending to care for the child was starting to get on the disguised Metal-head's nerves. At times he just walked away from Mar just to get away from him. At a point Mar got bored with just hearing the storm, he wanted to see it. He hadn't been outside since Kor had taken him out and they had met Jak and Daxter. Mar walked to the door and it opened for him without a problem, he walked up the stairs and out the other door which again opened for him without a problem.

Mar walked out into the rain. He just stood there for a moment just looking up at the cloudy sky. Just being in the rain brought back a forgotten memory; mostly because in the memory it was raining too, he was outside in the rain and there was a lot of plants around him, to him where he was looked a lot like a jungle. But he wasn't alone in this jungle-like place; there was a crocadog with him and there was also a man there too. Mar couldn't remember what the man looked like very well but he did know who he was… his father. For some reason both Mar and his father were throwing mud at each other. Mar didn't know why but they were both laughing so they must have been having fun.

Mar started to walk through the streets; that was the first time he had thought about his parents for a long time. Really he didn't even remember them anymore and really he didn't know if his memory was real. The young boy walked sadly and no one even gave a second look to the fact that there was a toddler walking around the city on his own, even though everyone knew that the Baron was looking for a young boy- of reasons that most didn't even know.

Back in the hideout Torn had seen Kor in one of the rooms and asked where the boy was. Kor told him that he's sitting in the main room. Torn felt a little angry that Kor again wasn't looking after the boy like he should and really beginning to hate the fact that Tess wasn't there to look after him. Torn walked to the main room to see if the boy was okay. But when Torn walked in he didn't see the boy. Thinking that maybe he had crawled under the beds so that no one would find him, Torn looked under all the beds but he didn't see him. He looked behind the table but the boy wasn't there either. Torn started to look all around the hideout trying to find him, which got the attention of the whole underground. Eventually Samos found out what was going on and only after the whole hideout was searched did they realize that the Kid had gone outside. This got Kor's full attention and he, Torn and Samos all bolted out of the hideout to look for him in the storm.

Mar wasn't the only one walking the rain-soaked streets of Haven by himself; Mutt- who now had a Kirmzon guard tag around his neck –was also roaming the streets. The tag around his neck made it so that no one would mistake him for a stray but to also show the people that he was just as much a guard as the men that walked the streets. As Mutt walked he saw a familiar face in the crowd, what made this face so familiar to Mutt was the long nose on the man's face; it was Veger, the same man who had tried to take Mar away months ago. Mutt had bitten his hand to stop him and then he and Mar had run off away from him. Mutt followed Veger, not knowing where he was going but hoping that it would lead him to wherever Mar was.

Mar had sat down under a small piece of metal; he had tried to find his way back to the hideout- being that he was now starting to feel very cold from the rain, but he had no luck and the storm had gotten so bad that it was dark as night. He sat there for a long moment before someone grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. Mar looked into the face of who had grabbed him and instantly didn't like him, there was just something about this long-nosed man that scared Mar. He started to pull against the man who began to drag him away. But then a green blur ran past him and bit the man's wrist causing him to let Mar go. Mar fell onto his back but he was really happy when he saw Mutt standing between him and the man. Mutt growled and bared his teeth, the brown spikes on his back stood strait up; even thought Mutt was just a puppy, he looked terrifying. Veger glared down at the dog and the boy until he felt a fist collide with his face. Veger fell onto the ground, he looked at who had hit him and found Torn glaring daggers at him. Mutt jumped on Veger to stop him from getting up and growled at him. This scared Veger so badly that he couldn't break eye contact with the dog out of fear that if he looked away then the dog would eat him.

Mutt also couldn't break eye contact with Veger, for if he did then Veger could easily push him aside and take Mar away. However this meant that Mutt couldn't see as Kor grabbed Mar and he and Torn retreated to the hideout. Mar didn't want to taken away from Mutt again; Mar screamed and Mutt looked to see him being taken way. And sure enough when he looked away Veger shoved the hybrid dog off him and tried to chase after the boy. But Mutt bit into Veger's leg and Veger fell again; Veger and Mutt saw as Torn and Kor ran around the corner with Mar. The count became frustrated that because of the same dog he had lost the boy again; a group of guards who had headed the disturbers had come running just in time to see Veger kick Mutt. The guards grabbed Veger on grounds of disturbing the peace and violence in form of animal cruelty and they wouldn't listen to him as he tried to tell them that he knew where the prince was. Mutt, however didn't follow the guards, instead he took off in the direction that Mar had been taken. But when he turned the corner he had no idea where they had gone. He had lost Mar again.

Torn and Kor took Mar back to the hideout and no sooner had they walked into the hideout that Torn's communicator went off. He answered it and Ashelin spoke to him and she didn't seem too happy, "Torn, what the hell is going on?!" She almost yelled at him, Kor took Mar to get him dry.

"What are you talking about?" Torn asked, not knowing what was going on.

"I'm talking about the high alert that city is under now."

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

"Fine! Then let me ask you this. Did you send Jak and Daxter to the palace?"

Torn looked at her, shocked; this was news to him. What was Jak thinking? "No." He quickly said, "No, I swear I haven't sent anyone to the palace. Your sure it's was those two?"

"Well I would think it's them. Because the guards are now looking for a 'dangers young man with light hair, a blue tunic and a rabid orange rat on his shoulder.' Who else does that sound like?"

Torn shook his, "I will deal with them, don't worry."

"You better. And keep your head down for a while, okay?"

"I will." And with that the two of them hung up. Kor brought the Kid back into the main room and Torn glared down at him, "What were you doing out there?" He asked. Mar just looked up at him, not knowing what he did wrong. "You are not allowed to leave the hideout unless you are with someone." Torn voice was getting more and more angry; now Mar knew he was in trouble and as he looked up at Torn he started to cry. Torn saw this and his anger almost disappeared. He knelt down to comfort the boy, "Listen kid, you're not really in trouble, alright? We were just worried that something happened to you, that's all." Torn glared up at Kor, "If anything it's your fault." He stood up, "You are supposed to look after him. _You're_ the one who is supposed to keep stuff like this from happening."

Kor looked at Torn, "Did you ever tell him that he wasn't supposed to leave?"

"He's a toddler, he most likely wouldn't understand anyways."

"Well I don't see how this is my fault. And if you want him to learn, then punish him."

Torn looked down at the boy, really Kor had a point; if Mar was going to learn what he did was wrong then he was going to have to be punished. Torn picked him up and sat him on the table, "Right, Kid you are to stay there until I say different." Torn found this a bit weird, he had never had to put anyone in time out; he had tried to make his little brother have a time out when they were younger but that never worked. Mar just looked up at him.

Torn looked at the papers on the table and Kor stayed close to the boy so he wouldn't leave. The more that Torn looked at the papers the more and more angry he got at Jak; now they would have a bit of a job on their hands, not all the underground members lived at the hideout there were many in the city that lived in safe houses. But now that there was a high alert on the city some of them would need to be moved to new safe houses; the ones that really needed it called Torn and he told them that he was working on it. Jak had made this mess so Jak was going to be the one to move them. But first Torn wanted Jak to tell him that he really was stupid enough to go up to the Baron's palace. The two walked into the hideout about twenty minutes later, Torn looked at them, "The city's on high alert. What the hell did you two do?"

Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and onto the table, "Us? Ah… nothing." He said, "We've been ah… sightseeing, right Jak?"

"Really?" Torn asked, "Then why are the Kirmzon guards looking for-" He pretended to read from one of the papers, "-A dangers young man with light hair, blue tunic and a rabid orange rat on his

shoulder?**" **Torn asked.

Mar pointed to Daxter, happy that someone other than himself was in trouble, "Um, could be anyone," Daxter said, "Orange is the new black this season."

Jak shook his head; really he had enough of Daxter's failed attempts to get them out of trouble, "Look, we climbed up to the Baron's palace… and… we tripped a few alarms." Jak said with a bit of a smile on his face, not trying to hide that he had fun along the way

"Oh right, that too." Daxter said.

Torn however was not amused, "WHAT!" He asked, not believing that Jak really was that stupid, "_I_ didn't authorize a strike on the-!"

"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ass." Jak jumped in, either forgetting that the Kid was there or just not caring, "Unfortunately, he escaped."

"And," Daxter jumped in, "We over heard a secret meeting with the leader of the Metal-heads!" He said.

Mar knew that Metal-heads were bad but he had never seen one. He got off the table and stood behind Kor. Torn looked at Kor who looked not only shock but also a bit scared, "You saw the Metal-head larder?" He asked.

"No," Jak said, "he was on some communicator. But we heard him talking to Baron Praxis."

"The Baron is bribing the Metal-heads with eco!" Daxter jumped in.

"Hmmph… It will never be enough." Kor said in a knowing tone.

"But the Baron's going to double cross 'em."

This got Kor's full interest, "Is that so? Well, our good Baron's wonderful charm must have angered someone. Because there's word from the wasteland that Metal-head armies are on the move again."

Mar was listening to what Kor was saying but Jak wasn't, he had other things on his mind, "Why didn't you tell me Ashelin was Praxis' daughter? What's you connection with her?!" He asked Torn.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUISNES!" Torn snapped, "Since you've stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you and whiskers here get to move four of our people to new safe houses. Shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move all of them without any casualties." He glared at Jak, "Don't screw this up Jak."

Not even two minutes after Jak and Daxter had left the hideout that Samos walked in. Both Torn and Kor looked at each other; they had both forgotten that Samos had gone out looking for the Kid too. Samos just glared at them, Mar stayed behind Kor mostly because he had never seen Samos mad before. Samos looked at Mar and then went back to glaring at Torn and Kor, "So, you didn't think to call me when you found the boy?"

"Um…" Torn said, "Something came up."

"You were talking about that alert on the city. The whole city on high alert and you didn't think to call me?"

"We had to deal with Jak." Torn said.

"I see. Well speaking of the new request, I think it's about time I've met them."

Torn looked at Samos and Kor took Mar out of the room, "You really think that's a good idea?" Torn asked, "I mean, it's because of them that the city is on high alert after all."

"I know." Samos said, "They are reckless but no one can say they don't have guts. Going right up to the palace and taking the Baron head on. I don't have doubt that they are on our side, and it's about time I met them."

Torn shook his head, "Fine, but let me just give them one more mission just to see if they are also willing to fight the Metal-heads as well as the Baron."

Samos nodded, "If you must, I know just what to have them do." Torn just looked at Samos, "Metal-heads have moved back into dead town. They're after the old hut. I want Jak and Daxter to go and clear them out, that hut must be protected at all cost."

Torn looked back at the table; anytime that Metal-heads had come into Dead Town he had taken it upon himself to force them out. But still, if all they wanted was the old house- why not just let them have it? They had destroyed everything else in that place and the old house had been falling apart even before the Metal-heads had attacked the city so many years ago, "What's so important about the old house anyways?"

"There is… something very powerful in that house; when the Metal-heads attacked all those years ago I was drawn to that place. I ran in and… I don't really know what happened to me but something did happen. I somehow was able to push the Metal-heads back outside the city. I wasn't able to save many but I was able to save some… including Keira's mother." Samos went quiet thinking about the woman who had been his wife.

Torn looked him "What do you mean something happened?"

"You were there when Dead Town was attacked weren't you? What do you remember from that day?"

Torn thought, all he really remembered was the Baron had found him and his brother and had forced them to leave the place their parents had left them. The Baron had ordered the guards to fall back and so all the guards left, taking him and his brother with them. The Baron had left Torn's parents and many others to die in the attack. But there was something else that was almost so unreal that Torn thought he made it up, "There was a green flash of light, but I don't even think that's real."

Samos smiled, "It was real. My skin wasn't always green; my hair didn't always look like a bush. But something in that hut changed me and it stopped the attack. That hut needs to be protected. Do you understand?"

Torn nodded and then the door opened and Keira ran in with an underground member behind her. "Daddy." She said, running to her father.

"There's my little girl." He said hugging her.

"Where Kid?" She asked.

Samos smiled, "Let's go find him." He took Keira's hand and then he looked back at Torn, "Send Jak and Daxter to Dead Town and when they come back I want to meet them." And with that Samos took Keira to find Mar leaving Torn and the underground member in the main room.

The underground member looked a bit like a mess and Torn had a feeling he knew why; before he had to pick Keira up, he was sent to Krew's to pick up a new weapon mod, but Krew wasn't one to just give it away he most likely had this poor man do something very dangerous. The man put the volcan fury mod on the table and then headed for the showers. Torn picked it up, if Jak was going to go into Dead Town he was going to need this. About five minutes later, the last underground member called Torn to tell him that they all were safe. Torn called Jak back to the hideout to give him the mission. They walked into the hideout and Torn wasted no time in telling them what was going on. He gave them the volcan fury and they walked out.

Samos and Keira had found Mar in Kor's room. Kor looked at Samos, "I need to go to the power Station. Poor Vin is in a bad state and I fear that if he is left alone then he could hit something and the bring down the shield."

Samos looked at him, surprised, "Well this is out of nowhere."

"I've been going to the power Station a lot lately- as I said, Vin has me worried and also in the power Station I can look to see what the Baron is up to. So far though I know only one thing, he's looking for the tomb."

Samos looked at him, "You don't mean _Mar's_ tomb?" Completely on instinct Mar looked at Samos and then not knowing why he went back to playing with Keira.

Kor nodded, "He's after the Precursor Stone."

Samos knew that the stone was said to be something of great power; if the baron got his hands on it then he would be able to rule the world. He looked at the Kid, "That's why he's after the kid; the tomb will only open for the descendants of Mar."

"Exactly," Kor said, "and once the tomb is open and the Baron has the stone then what do you think he will do this poor little boy?"

Samos looked at Mar; he knew that the baron would kill him. Samos also looked at his daughter; the Kid was her best friend. He couldn't let Mar be taken away for a number of reasons, but most of all he couldn't lose Mar for Keira's sake. Samos looked at Kor, "We have to get to the stone first, the Kid can open the tomb and then we can get the stone."

Kor looked at him, "And what do you plan to do about the test in the tomb?"

Samos had heard of them: legend said that the stone was guarded by the test of manhood and that Mar's heir must face them alone. Samos looked at the Kid; there was no way he would be able to do it but they would have no choice. "We'll worry about that later. Go to the power station and help Vin, see what you can find out and…" Samos looked back to the boy and then back at Kor, "I'll send the boy to you later, we can't keep him here, he needs to be somewhere more safe for now and I fear that if he's left here he will be found."

Kor nodded, "Very well, I'll look after the boy at the power station." And with that, Kor began to leave. Kor reached the door, but when it opened a small croca-dog ran in. Kor -shocked by the sudden appearance- stood aside as the dog ran through the hide out, barking. The underground members didn't know what to make of it but it seemed as if the dog knew what he was doing.

Mar and Keira heard the Dog and came out to see what it was… and a smile stretched across Mar's face. the croca-dog looked at Mar and the two ran to each other. Mutt pinned Mar to the ground and started to lick his face, both happy that they had finally found each other. Torn and Kor had followed Mutt, trying to catch him, but once the mutt had stopped Torn recognized him from earlier; it was the same dog that has been protecting the kid from Veger.

Keira just smiled, "Puppy." She said. She reached out to pet Mutt but he growled at her. The small girl pulled her hand back and hid behind her father. Mar looked at Mutt and then at Keira. He got off the floor and held out his hand to Keira. She took it and Mutt now knew that she was a friend and he started to lick her hand. Keira smiled and the two toddlers started to play with Mutt.

Samos reached out to pet Mutt but Mutt, who thought that Samos was going to try to take Mar away, growled at him. Samos pulled back his hand and Mutt went back to being content with having Mar back and having Keira pet him. Samos just smiled, "Well at least that mutt is protective."

Torn looked at him, "We're keeping it?" He asked.

Samos smiled, "Why not? Having a dog might be a good thing." He said, glaring at Kor who was now walking away.

**Keira: I can't believe you're a brony Jak, that is one of the cutest things ever.**

**Jak: One of the characters sounds like you, that's all, I can't help it.**

**Penny: And he likes Rainbow Dash.**

**Keira: Jak, **_**I**_** like My Little Pony.**

**Jak: Yes, but you're a girl; you're supposed to like it.**

**Keira: I'm **_**also**_** an adult and that show is meant for five year olds.**

**Jet: Okay, getting off topic. You can talk about My Little Pony when I do my crossover fic **

**between Jak and Daxter and MLP.**

**Jak (A little scared): You're going to do **_**what**_**?**

**Jet: Don't worry, I'm going to do that write out of TLF first. Also I got **_**Battle Royale **_**and it's so cool!**** Josh is playing Jak again but he not nearly as bad as he was in TLF mostly because Jak looks more like himself.**

**Jak: What are you talking about?**

**Jet (not listening to Jak): So how do you all think the chapter went. Let me know and I'll see everyone for the next chapter.**


	8. A Boy and His Croca-Dog

Chapter 8: A Boy and His Croca-Dog

**Jet (Singing): ****There's a hate inside of me like some kind of monster. I tried to save you, but I can't find the answer. I'm holding onto you, I'll never let go. I need you with me as I enter the shadows.**

**Penny: Jet, why are you singing?**

**Jet: Because I'm in a really good mood, I'm on break from school right now and I just got my grades back and I passed my classes which means that for the next three months I can work on my stories.**

**Penny: So you're singing **_**Shadows**_**?**

**Jet: I'm working on a video with that song, okay?**

**Jak: It's not bad enough that you're writing stories about me but now you have to make videos too?**

**Jet (Glaring at Jak): I'm just going to recap now. So chapter 7 went back to looking a bit more at the kid. Kor seems to be getting bored with his job of looking after the boy and is fine with letting him wander around on his own. And because of this, Mar sneaks out of the hideout on a rainy day. Hey, has anyone else noticed that in Jak 2 it always starts raining when you go to the palace? So while Jak is fighting the Baron, Mar is walking around the city on his own. Torn takes notice that Mar is missing and he, Samos and Kor go looking for him. But there is someone else looking for the young boy; Veger is also looking for the boy, and he nearly gets him. But then Mutt shows up and keeps Veger from taking Mar. And now this recap is getting too long- so pretty much now Samos thinks he should meet Jak and Daxter, Kor tells Samos that the Baron is looking for Mar's tomb and Mutt finds the hideout. Oh also the last chapter would be the end of Act 1 of the game, now we are on Act 2 how weird is that? Okay, that's all the important stuff; let's get on with the story. Oh and Happy New Year everybody.**

Mar was glad that he had Mutt back, and Keira just like the croca-dog. Mutt followed the two to the playroom. Once the door was open Mutt ran in and jumped into a small pile of toys, Mutt found a stuffed toy that looked a bit like a Muse but it's tail was too narrow to be a Muse and it had what looked like a ratchet in one hand and what looked like a robot on his back. Mutt bit down on the toy and it squeaked; Mutt wagged his tail happily as he made his new toy squeak again. Mar and Keira didn't care; neither of them had even known that that toy was there, what did they care if Mutt chewed on it? At a point Mar started to play tug-a-war with Mutt just to get the toy out of his mouth and throw it across the room. But even though Mutt made Mar tug the toy to get it from him- when Keira wanted it Mutt would just let go of it and then chase after it when Keira would throw it; she couldn't get it to go as far as Mar could but she did try. It didn't take long before the toy was ripped and covered in croca-dog slobber. Neither Keira nor Mar wanted to play with the toy after that, so Mutt just went to sit in the corner with his toy as Keira and Mar started to play with the other toys in the room.

After a while Keira and Mar started to head out of the chamber; Mutt got up and followed them. They walked down the hall and to the door of the main room. As Daxter's voice came through the door, "You used to look older then dirt and uglier than a knotted stump, what gives?" The two toddlers stopped and peeked through the partly opened door, "Did you get a little nip and tuck while we were gone?"

Keira had never seen Daxter before and she wanted to hold the soft looking rodent. She tried to run out the door but Mutt grabbed the bottom of her dress with his teeth and held the small girl back. Mar just sat on the ground quietly. Samos was talking now, "Listen boys, I don't know what kind of twigs you've been chewing on but I don't have time for this." Mar and Keira watched as the short man climbed up onto some boxes, "We've got a Baron to over-throw, a child heir to protect, an invasion of Metal-heads to stop and a city to save. I'd say the schedules pretty full; besides, I've haven't gone through rifts. I _hate_ teleporting."

"Sure sounds like the old Samos." Daxter said, but everyone ignored him.

Samos sent Jak and Daxter to Haven forest to deal with a Metal-head problem and only after they were gone did Mutt let go of Keira. The small girl ran over to her father and he picked her up. Mar just stood there. Mutt looked at him and whimpered a little, Mar smiled a bit and started to pet Mutt. But then the little boy stopped and started to walk sadly back to the play room. He couldn't stand to see Keira with her father; it just made the young boy miss his own father. Mutt followed Mar back to the play room. The young heir sat down in a corner and pulled his knees to his chest and started to cry. Mutt sat next to him and rubbed his head against Mar. Mar looked at him and started to pet him again.

Mutt just stayed close to Mar; he wasn't going to lose him again. Torn brought Keira back into the play room just a couple of minutes later. He tried to pet Mutt but the croca-dog- thinking that Torn was going to take Mar away again- growled at him. However when Keira came over to pet him Mutt was more than happy to let her. Torn didn't know what he had done to make the dog hate him but regardless he sat in the corner of the room and just watched the two toddlers play with Mutt. The puppy made a better babysitter then Kor did. At least the dog would protect him, and keep him out of trouble where as Kor didn't seem to care about the kid at all.

Not too long later Samos came into the play room. Keira smiled and ran to her father, Mar and Mutt right behind her. Samos looked at the boy, "Come on kid, you're going to the power station."

"What?" Torn asked, "Why?"

"Because that's where Kor is and he needs to spend a little time out of the hideout."

"What about Keira?" Torn asked.

Samos looked at his daughter and then sadly looked away from her, "The kid is the one the guards are after, Keira isn't. Everything is resting on this boy's safety. We have to do everything we can to keep him safe even if that means separating him and Keira for a little while."

Torn looked sadly at the little girl; Samos was right. Samos began to lead the little boy out of the hideout with Mutt right behind him. Keira tried to follow but Torn grabbed her arm and wouldn't let her go. She looked at Torn with a sad look in her eyes. Then she looked back at the kid, "Kid." She called. Mar looked back at her and then he started to head back up the stairs. But Samos grabbed him and began to pull him away.

Mutt growled at Samos who looked at him, "You can come too." Mutt stopped growling and then looked back at Keira before following Samos and Mar.

"Kid." Keira called again but he couldn't go back to her. The little girl looked at Torn, sadly. "No." she said.

Torn knelt down, "Keira, I'm sorry but the kid has to go away for a little while, okay? He'll be back. Don't worry." Keira looked like she was ready to cry. Torn looked at the toys that covered the floor, "Do you want to play Keira?" He asked grabbing a toy and handing it to her, "Don't cry, I'll play with you." Keira looked at the man and hugged him. Torn just hugged her back, knowing that she didn't want to play with him she wanted to play the kid.

Just outside the hideout, Mutt was chasing Mar as he ran around Samos as Jak and Daxter walked up to them. "I want you two to escort the kid over to Kor at the power station, he promised to look after the boy and I'm just too busy to babysit right now." Samos said as Mutt and Mar continued to run around. "Oh and take the kid's croca-dog with you." Samos took one step towards Mar and Mutt turned and growled at him, "Oh, isn't he sweet." Samos said backing away a little.

"So what's this kid's story?" Jak asked as the kid came to stand in front of him.

"I found him just wounding the streets." Samos said, "But that amulet around his neck means that he's the lost heir to the city. Take the kid and the mutt to the power station, watch out for guard patrols and protect the kid at all cost." Samos said, then he added, "And if you happen to lose the croca-dog…" Mutt growled at him.

Jak looked at the dog, "Where did the dog come from anyways? I don't think I've seen him around here before." Jak said; kneeling down to pet him for Jak seeing the pup was almost like see an old friend. Mutt looked at Jak and wagged happily as Jak pet him.

"That's not important right now." Samos said.

"In other words, you don't know do you greeny?" Daxter said.

Samos glared at the rodent, "Get going!" He said, he voice practically pissed off enough to shake the alley.

Jak looked at the kid- or at least where the kid had been; Jak looked down the streets and saw the kid already on the move, "Hey kid, wait! Come back." Jak yelled, running after him with Mutt running even faster to catch up to the small boy. Jak caught up to the boy and grabbed his hand, Mar looked up at him, "You can't just run off like that kid. You don't want the guards to see you."

"Um Jak… it might be a little late for that." Daxter said as he pointed down the street.

Jak looked to see that the guards were heading strait for them. Jak pulled out the blaster and looked back at the boy, "Get going kid." Mutt tugged on Mar's pant leg and the two started to run down the streets as Jak began to shoot the guards. As they ran Mar looked back at Jak and tripped. A guard came up behind him and picked him up. Mutt started to bark and Jak came running. He hit the guard causing him to drop the kid. Jak left the guard on the ground, picked Mar up and began to run with Mutt leading the way. Mutt found a flyer and jumped in; Jak got in, put Mar down and began to fly away. Mar looked out the back as the guards began to shoot at them. "Keep your head down Kid." Jak said.

Jak flew into the Industrial Section of the city doing his best to avoid the Hellcats that were everywhere. Mutt almost fell out of flyer when Jak took a sharp turn but Daxter managed to pull the croca-dog back. Jak landed the flyer at the base of the ramp that led up to the power station and Mutt jumped out followed by Mar. "There goes that crazy croca-dog again!" Daxter yelled as Jak followed them.

More guards came running down the ramp heading for the kid, "There's the kid, get him." One of the guards yelled. Mar turned around and started to run back to Jak with Mutt right behind him. But there were even more guards behind Jak. Jak pulled out the blaster but he knew that the simple gun was not going to work. The kid grabbed Jak's pant leg and hid his face as the brown spikes on Mutt's back stood straight up and bared his sharp teeth with a growl as the guards came closer and closer. Jak looked down at the kid just to make sure that he wasn't looking. Jak looked back at the guards who now had their guns pointed at him and demanded that he hand over the boy. Jak let a wicked grin stretch across his face and then he let his darker side take over. His skin became the pale gray color and his hair turned from its usual green-blond color to a darker gray than his skin. His finger nails grow into long black claws, random surges of dark eco leapt from Jak's body one of them nearly hit Mutt. Mar dared a look when Mutt yelped in surprise. Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and covered the young boy's eyes so he wouldn't see as Jak jumped at the guards. Daxter looked at Jak and then forced Mar onto the ground as a wave of Dark eco flew above them and hit the other guards killing them instantly. Mar and Daxter, who was still keeping his hands over Mar's face so he wouldn't see the bloody mess that now covered the ramp, got up. Jak - who was now back to looking like his usual self – came over to them and picked Mar up keeping the small child's face covered, no child Mar's age should have to see what Jak had just done.

Jak looked around, it seemed that once he had gone dark the people who had been that part of the city had ran for their lives, there was not another soul besides him, the kid, Daxter and Mutt. Jak started to walk up the ramp with Daxter and Mutt following him. When they got to the power station Jak put down the kid and the small boy ran in. Kor was looking up at one of large screens as he heard the group come up behind him. The old man looked around. "Samos told us to bring the kid to you." Daxter said, with what almost sounded like anger in his voice.

Mar ran over to Kor. "Thank you," the old man said, putting a hand on Mar's shoulder, "I'll be sure to keep him close." Mutt growled at Kor, there was something about the old man that didn't sit right with the dog. Jak scratched him behind the ears which instantly made Mutt stop growling. There was just something about Jak, something that almost reminding the croca-dog of Mar. "Interesting," Kor said, walking over to Mutt as Jak knelt down and began to stroke the green fur that covered the dog's back, "That insufferable _mutt_ never liked anyone one but the boy before."

Mutt growled at Kor again causing him to back away a little, Jak just smiled, "I guess I'm just good with animals." Jak said as he looked his ottsel friend. Daxter, not really liking the joke, glared at him.

Jak stood back up and Kor looked back at the large screen he had been looking at before, "I hope we have enough eco to keep the Metal-heads at bay, during my travels I saw some of the bigger ones. Awesome creatures." He said bit dramatically.

"We saw a big one coming out of a rift once." Daxter said, "He was uuugly!"

Kor looked at Daxter as if he had just offended him but Kor didn't say anything about it. Instead he changed the subject, "I have some valuable information for you. The Baron is conducting an excavation at the dig." Mutt came over and stood next to Kor, "He is still looking for that ridiculous tomb." Mutt lifted his back leg and- with the most _innocent_ face- relieved himself on Kor's staff. Kor looked down as Mutt walked way, "Frankly, I don't believe it exists." He shook his staff a little. "But you might as well go out there and disrupt his operation just in case." Jak and Daxter were silently laughing about what Mutt had just done but stopped when Kor pointed his staff in their faces, "knock down all the scaffolding at the sight, that should set him back, here is an air train pass to get you out there." Mar reached into his pocket and pulled out the pass. Jak wondered a little how the kid had gotten that, but he didn't think about it long before taking the pass and walking out the door.

Mutt watched Jak leave and almost followed him. The only thing that stopped him was that Mar came over to him and started to pet him. Mutt looked at the boy and sat down, he had spent so much time looking for him. He was never going lose him again. It was still his job keep Mar safe and he would not fail a second time.

Mar sat down with his back to one of the computers and Mutt placed his front paws on Mar's lap and rested his head as the small boy just pet him. Mar was happy to have his dog back, he couldn't really remember his life before Samos had found him but Mutt was one thing he did remember. Mar remembered that he and Mutt had been living in a dark place and Mutt would leave every day and come back with food. Mar remembered how lonely he had been when Mutt had done that- but now Mutt was not going to leave him. Mutt yawned and closed his eyes, beginning to fall asleep; just as happy to have Mar back as the boy was to have his dog. Mar also closed his eyes and began to fall asleep.

Kor couldn't care less what the boy was doing; he fiddled with the many knobs and buttons when the doors to the power station flew open and another man ran in as if he was on fire. As soon as the doors closed behind him the poor man collapsed onto the ground shaking. This poor man's name was Vin. Vin was a brilliant man but he was- in all terms of the word- a coward; the man was quit literally afraid of his own shadow. In truth, Vin was only in his early twenties, but do to his fear of everything he more had the look of a much older man. He aways had his goggles pulled over his eyes so it was imposable to see the wide-eyed fear on his face as he curled up into a ball and shook on the floor. Kor looked to the poor man. And walked over to him, "Vin, what is wrong?" He asked, Kor liked Vin; he was the only elf that the Metal-head leader did like only because- even though Vin was unaware of it- he was a great help to Kor.

Vin trembled on the ground, "B-blood. B-b-b-bodies everywhere."

Kor put a hand on Vin's back, "Where did you see it, my friend?" He asked.

Vin pointed, "O-out there. On t-the ramp. Blood… everywhere."

Kor looked at the man, "It's all right now, Vin, there aren't any bodies here. Come on," Kor said, helping him up, "You need to get some work done that will take your mind off of what you just saw."

"Yeah, you're right Kor." Vin shakily walked over to one of the computers, "I just need to do a bit of work." Mutt woke up and looked at Vin who was pushing away at the buttons. Mutt got up and walked over to Vin and sat down next to him. When Vin didn't instantly see him Mutt began to whimper. Vin looked down and then he fell over, "DOG! DOG!" Vin covered his face. Vin's yelling woke Mar up and he saw Mutt walk closer to Vin who was culled up on the ground again. Mutt walked up to Vin and began to lick his hands. Vin uncovered his face and looked at Mutt who had his tongue hanging out and was wagging his tail, "You're not going to hurt me?" Vin asked, Mutt just barked happily. Vin reached out a shaking hand and pattered the dog nervously, "Good doggy." He said. Mar came up and stood next to Mutt. Vin looked at him, "Is this your dog?" Vin asked. Mar just nodded, "Well what are you doing here kid?" Vin asked. Kor looked over and told Vin what was going on. Which only got Vin into more of a panic, "Do you know what the guards will do to me if they find this boy here?! Oh I can't go to prison. I won't last an hour."

"Calm down Vin, no one is going to find out he's here. Besides he won't be here long, I'll take him back to the hideout with me later."

Vin looked back down at the small boy, "Well as long as no one see him."

Kor began to head back to the hideout well after dark. He refused to carry the boy who had fallen back asleep a little while ago. So he just woke him up and made him walk all the way back to the hideout. Mar was so tired that Mutt had keep Mar from falling and also he had to keep him moving. Mar was so tired that he didn't take notice of the still blood soaked ramp as they walked down it. The bodies had been moved but the blood still remained. Kor didn't really care for the boy; He needed him to get into the tomb and to get the stone, and then once he had the stone the was going to have to open it- for only he could and after that there would be no use for the boy any longer. Kor would finally be able to kill the last member of the Mar line. But there was something that worried him… and that was Jak. There was something very important about Jak and Mar that only Kor and the old Soothsayer knew. But that was of no matter at the moment; once the boy opened the stone then Kor would kill two birds with one blow.

They got to the hide out; unlike when Jak had taken the kid to Kor, when Kor walked down the streets no one paid any attention to him or the boy. Mar walked over to his bed and climbed into it and fell asleep. Mutt curled up on the floor and also began to fall asleep. There was no one else in the room and Kor walked out to his room and Mar slept undisturbed.

The sun was just beginning to come over the wall when the doors to the hideout opened and Tess walked in. The blond she-elf walked past Mar's bed where he still slept and she smiled, she had missed the little boy and she had missed Keira. Keira was actually the reason she was there. Krew had sent her to take some things to his racing client who oddly enough was also named Keira. But that wasn't the only thing about her made her the same as the little girl that Tess knew: the Keira that Tess had talked to in the stadium looked _a lot_ like the Keira in the underground. At least Tess thought she did. Tess sat on a nearby bed and waited for the rest of the underground to wake up.

Torn was the first one up and when he walked into the main room he was shocked to see Tess, "What are you doing here?!" He asked.

"I need a break from that over-weight bar owner." Tess said, crossing her arms and looking away from Torn.

Torn sighed, "Well, Keira and the kid will be happy to see you."

"I've missed both of them too." Tess looked back at Torn, "Speaking of Keira, there's someone who I think would be a great help to us."

Torn looked at her, a bit confused, "What does that have to do with Keira?"

"Her name's also Keira. She's a mechanic and-"

"How well do you know her?" Torn asked, cutting her off.

Tess looked at the floor, "Well, I only met her just a few hours ago."

Torn just looked at her, "Tess, we have to be careful about who we let join us. Do you remember what happened to Aida?" Torn said, sadness sneaking into his voice.

"Don't bring her up Torn!" Tess snapped, "I'll never forget what happened to her. I knew her longer than you did…" Tess shook her head, "Look, I know that this is someone we can trust."

"From meeting her once?"

"That's just it. She seemed so familiar like I met her before." Tess laughed a little, "I guess that's could be because she looks a lot like Keira to the point that she could be her sister." Torn shook his head. Tess looked at him, "Torn, don't you trust my judgment?" She asked.

Torn sighed through his nose, "Alright, I trust you. But what did you talk about that makes you think you can trust her?"

Tess walked past Torn and smiled, "What else? _Boys_."

Torn's mouth hung open, "Really? That's what you talked about?"

Tess walked over to the door to the hall and looked at Torn over her shoulder, "Well we did talk about other stuff but it's none of you business." She said and then she walked through the door.

Torn shook his head '_Women!_' He thought.

Tess walked down the hall and walked into Keira's room. She smiled at the still sleeping girl. She walked over and sat on the bed, Tess gently shook Keira, "Keira. Keira wake up." She said.

Keira opened her eyes and looked at Tess, her green eyes widened as she jumped into Tess' arms, "Tessie!" The toddler said, happy to see her favorite babysitter again.

Tess hugged the small child, "Did you miss me?" She asked.

Keira nodded. "Where?" She asked, pointing to Tess.

Tess just smiled, "I was on the other side of the city." Tess smiled, "So do you think we should go wake up the kid?"

"Kid?" Keira asked. The small girl squirmed out of Tess' arms and ran to the door.

"Keira slow down." Tess said, following her.

The small girl ran through the door and jumped up onto Mar's bed, instantly waking him up. Mar looked at her and smiled as she hugged him, happy that her best and only friend was back. Mutt woke up and climbed onto the bed with the two and began to lick them. The two toddlers laughed. Tess and Torn just watched them, happy that they were happy. Keira and Mar jumped off the bed and the two of them, followed by Mutt, started to patter into the play room.

Tess looked at Torn, "Where's Kor? Isn't he supposed to be watching them?" She asked.

Torn shook his head, "Yes, he is ,but really the dog is a better babysitter than Kor is. I don't know what his problem is, but he doesn't seem to care about any of us."

"Well… you did kill his friend." Tess said, looking away from him.

Torn glared at her, "I had to. He killed Aida, what would you have done?"

Tess just shook her head, "I know why you did Torn. I don't think I would do the same thing… but still." She paused, "What did you do with his body anyways?"

"I pushed it into the water. I would be surprised if there was anything left of him now."

The two stood there without saying a word but then Tess spoke, "I just don't get why he killed her… she loved him."

Torn looked at her a bit, shocked, "What?"

"Aida never said anything- but I could tell, she was in love with him and I thought he loved her… so I just don't get it."

"Maybe he was pretending- to get her away from us, but I don't think we'll ever know why."

Tess inhaled through her nose and sighed, "Well, I really need to head back to hip hog and I should tell my new friend that she can join us."

Tess started to walk away when Torn called out to her, "Tess, what about this person really made you want to have her join us?"

Tess smiled back at him, "Well, mostly it was that she's going to the only person who could keep Jak and Daxter in check." Torn just looked at Tess confused, Tess giggled, "Apparently she grew up with Jak and Daxter but they got separated and she's been looking for them for the last two years. I didn't tell her that they're also part of the underground I just told her that I knew them."

"How do you know that you're talking about the same people?" Torn asked.

Tess giggled again, "Torn, how many two foot tall orange rats do you know?"

Torn couldn't help but to crack a smile, "Alright, good point."

Tess started to walked way again, "See you later Torn." She said as she walked out.

**Jet: Well that's the end of this chapter and I got to tell you that bit where Jak is taking the kid to the Power Station is one of my favorite parts of the game and it was one of the moments that I've been looking forward to doing ever since I started working on this story.**

**Penny: Well I like how it turned out.**

**Jet: Me too. Well, I'll see everyone for the next chapter. **


	9. The Woman in the Garage

Chapter 9: The Woman in the Garage

**Jet: Okay, so first- I'm sorry that chapter has taken me so long. Aside from having the worst case of writer's block, my dog that I had for 12 years had to be put down. He was old, in dog years he would have been like 92 years old. But still I had him for a long time and after that I had a hard time focusing on anything but now I'm back to my old self and back to working on my stories. **

**Penny: Jet, are you sure you're okay? **

**Jet: I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm just going to recap the last chapter now. So chapter 8 was a chapter that I had been looking forward to doing ever since I started to think of this story; so back when I was writing **_**The Untold Story**_**. And the reason why I was looking forward to that was that I got to write out one of my favorite parts of Jak 2; the mission where Jak has to take the kid to the power station and I love playing that part of the game. I will let the kid almost get caught just so that when I punch a guard Jak says something entertaining; and I really like that because that just shows that even thought Jak acts like he's pissed at everyone he's still the same nice, caring guy that he was in the first game… at least a little. Sorry, little off topic there; so on the way to the power station Jak lets his dark side take over and makes a big bloody mess on the way. Jak keeps the kid from seeing it and gets him and Mutt to the power station and then it's another cutscene Jak leaves and Kor ignores the kid so Mar and Mutt take a nap and then Vin shows up being what else- terrified- because he saw the bloody mess that Jak had made… you know I feel bad for Vin. I really feel like he saw his parents get killed by Metal-heads when he was a little kid and that scarred him for life. Anyways, so Kor takes the kid back to the hideout much later, and the kid goes to bed. Then the next day Tess shows up and apparently she knows Keira, and I'm talking about the older version, not the toddler. Tess convinces Torn to let Keira be a part of the underground and that's where the chapter ended. Oh also Mutt found a toy of Ratchet and Clank and pretty much killed it… I'm not a shamed to say that I enjoyed writing that, because I am not a **_**Ratchet and Clank **_**fan. But whatever, on with the story.**

Tess stopped in the doorway and looked back at Torn, "Doesn't Keira have to go to day care today?"

Torn looked at Tess, "Yeah, but she's doesn't have to go for a few more hours. Why, do you want to take her?"

"Well like I said, I have to get back to the Hip Hog soon, but I was just thinking that Mar is going to be here all alone all day. Really I don't know what's been going on- but I guessing that he hasn't gotten out much."

Torn shook his head, "Tess, I get that you miss the kids but you can't take The Kid to the Hip Hog. I know for a fact that Errol like hanging out there and-"

"I wasn't going to take him to the _Hip Hog_!" She snapped. Even though she was on the other side of the room Torn still leaned back a little. "You don't think I know who goes there on a daily basis?! I see the people that go there; I see the kind of people that Krew works with and the people he has working for him and- aside from Sig, Daxter, Jak and Keira- they are horrible, horrible people I wouldn't want either of the kids anywhere near that place, ever. No matter how much I miss them."

Torn cleared his throat from this feminine outburst, "Then what were you talking about?"

"I was thinking that I could take the kid to Keira… the older one, and let her watch him."

Torn just looked at her, "No." He said sharply, "Tess, I don't know this person and the Kid is just too important to just leave him with just anyone."

Tess looked away from Torn and crossed her arms, "Well I guess you're right, we should just let _Kor_ keep watching him."

Torn glared at her back. On the one hand he didn't know this friend that Tess kept talking about; what if this person _was_ working for the guards? Then again, according to Tess she knows Jak and Daxter. On the other hand, Torn didn't like Kor- didn't even really trust him- and lately the old man had been leaving the hideout without telling anyone and that meant the Kid was left with no one but his dog and although that mutt did keep the Kid out of trouble he was still just a dog. "Fine. Take the Kid. But Tess, you better not be wrong about this person."

Tess looked back at Torn with a smile, "Don't worry Torn, she already knew about us."

"What?!" Torn almost yelled, "How?"

"Jak went to her a little before I did and asked if he could barrow her jet-board; when he told her that he needed it to help the underground she said he could keep it. I really think we can trust her."

Torn shook his head, "I just hope you're right. We can't lose that kid."

Tess started to walk to the door that the kids had run through, "I know that."

"Where are you going?" Torn asked, "I thought you had to get back to the Hip Hog."

Tess looked back at Torn, "That tub of lard can deal without me for a little while. Besides someone needs to get Keira ready for day care." And with that she walked down the hall to the play room.

Tess walked into the play room and saw Mutt chasing Mar and Keira. Keira saw Tess and playfully ran behind her and Mar followed. Mutt stood in front of Tess wagging his tail happily as the two kids giggled. Tess smiled at the toddlers, "Okay you two," she knelt now and looked at them, "Keira, we need to get you ready to go to day care."

The smile fell from both of the children's' faces, "No." The small girl said, "Don't want go." She grabbed Mar's hand, "Stay." She said, pouting her lip.

Tess just kept smiling, "But Keira, you want to grow up to a smart girl don't you?" Tess asked, "You don't want to grow up and be dumb do you?"

The one year old let go of Mar's hand and looked at her feet, "No…" She said.

Tess smiled and picked her up, "Then you have to go to day care. So you can learn new things." The older she-elf rubbed her nose on Keira's causing the young girl to giggle again.

Keira looked at Mar and Mutt and pointed, "Come too." She said to Tess.

Tess shook her head, "No Keira, they can't come." Mar and Keira looked up at Tess sadly, "I'm sorry, but they can't." Tess started to take Keira away so she could help the young girl get ready to go.

Mar just stood in there while Tess took Keira away. Only when the two were out of sight did Mar turn and walk over to the toy pile, he sat down and picked up a toy. He looked at it but then he threw it aside. Mutt, thinking that Mar was playing, now chased after it. The dog brought it back guessing that Mar was going to start pulling on it like he usually did. But the young boy didn't seem to want to; Mutt dropped the toy and then he crawled onto Mar's lap. The young boy smiled and started to pet his dog.

Tess took Keira to Day Care about a few hours later; when she got back she found Mar sitting in the play room with Mutt sitting next to him and Kor just watching them. Tess didn't pay any mind to the old man and called the young boy over. Mar got up and walked over to her with Mutt following him. Tess knelt down, "Hey, guess what Kid, I made a new friend yesterday and I think she would just love to meet you. Do you want to come with me and see her?"

Mar just reached up at her, wanting her to pick him up. Tess did, taking this as he wanted to go with her. Kor however didn't seem to like this plan. "You can't just take the boy away. He needs to stay here where _I_ can keep an eye on him."

Mutt growled at the old man and Tess glared, "Torn said that you're not very good at looking after him. And you know what; I don't like you at all. So I'm taking him to meet my new friend." Tess turned and began to walk away. Kor followed Tess, Mutt tried to follow but Kor shut the door behind Tess locking the dog in the play room. Kor smiled as he heard the dog scratch at the door as he walked down the stairs following Tess.

Kor couldn't stop Tess from taking Mar, and Torn even told Kor to stop trying to make her leave the boy in the underground. He looked at Tess, "So where are you taking him?" Torn asked.

"The stadium," Tess said, "garage three. _You_ can pick him up from there." She pointed to Torn. Then she turned and Kor watched as Tess and Mar left the hid out.

The sun was very high above the city- now it had to have been about noon and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so the sunlight hurt the young boy's eyes; he rubbed them a little, trying to get used to the light as Tess put him in her cruiser and buckled him in then she got in and they began to fly away. Tess didn't drive as fast or as crazy as Jak did and really Mar wished that she did. He liked Jak's driving, it was fun for the little boy. But Tess drove the speed limit and she was willing to put up the city traffic where as _Jak_ just would switch hover zones to avoid slowing down. A trip that would have taken Jak minutes took Tess a half an hour.

Tess stopped in front of the stadium which still had people filing out of it, Tess looked a little disappointed, "Oh no, I missed the race." She groaned. Then she looked at Mar with a smile, "Oh well, I'll catch the next one." Mar didn't know what she was talking about he just looked at her with a blank look. As Tess looked for a place to park Mar looked at all the people; a particular duo caught the boy's eye, he smiled and pointed at a very agitated-looking teenager who seemed to be talking to the large orange rat on his shoulder. Mar pointed Jak and Daxter out to Tess who (going by Jak's apparent attitude) decided not to try to talk to them right now. Tess found a place to park not too far away from where Keira's garage was. She got out of her cruiser, unbuckled Mar and carried him to the garage. Tess walked into the garage and put Mar down, "Keira?" She called, "Are you here? It's me, Tess."

Mar saw a green curtain move and saw a she-elf standing there. She was wearing black shoes, purple pants and a white tank top that only covered her chest. She also had goggles around her neck and her blue-green hair framed her face. Keira looked at Tess and smiled, "Tess, I didn't think I would see you again so soon. What are you doing here?"

Tess picked Mar back up, "I was hoping you could watch this kid for a little while."

Keira looked at the small boy and then she looked back at Tess, "Tess, I'm a mechanic, not a babysitter."

"Please," Tess asked, "this kid is important to the underground- and the person who usually watches him… no one trusts him and really I don't like him much either."

"Tess, if this kid is with the underground that's even more of a reason for me not to baby-sit him. I told you that Errol likes to pop in here without warning and if this is the kid that the Baron is looking for…"

"Come on, Keira. Just look at him."

Keira looked back at the boy: he was looking at her with big, innocent, ocean blue eyes. There was something about those eyes that Keira just couldn't say no to. It reminded her of… -she pushed that thought from her head and looked at Tess, "Fine, I'll look after him for a _little_ while." Tess smiled and put Mar down; Mar happily ran over to Keira and looked up at her with a smile. Keira looked down at him and also smiled. Looking at the kid made her feel good inside; just looking at his eyes reminded her of… -she looked at Tess who was starting to walk out of the garage, "Tess," The blond she-elf stopped and looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me that Jak and Daxter are working for the underground?"

Tess smiled, "You're friends that you told me about? I didn't even notice." The look on her face told Keira otherwise.

Tess started to walk away again when again Keira stopped her, "You didn't tell me his name."

"We don't know his name," Tess said, "The underground has just been calling him kid." And finally Tess walked away, leaving Keira alone with the young boy.

Keira looked back down but found that the kid was gone. She looked under the table but he wasn't there, it wasn't until she heard he tools hitting the floor that she knew where he was. She walked behind the curtain and found the boy standing next to the project that she had been working on for the last two years. Keira smiled, "Well what am I going to do with you?" She asked. The boy just smiled at her. "I can't just have you _wandering_ around here, there's too much for you to get into." The boy just kept looking at her. Keira picked him up and the two sat down in the rift rider, "Well, can you tell me your name?" The boy looked at her and shook his head. Keira just blinked, "Okay, then… can you tell me what you like to play?" Again Mar shook his head. Keira just blinked at him, "Um… can you tell me what stories you like to hear?" And again the young boy shook his head. Keira tilted her head a little, "Can you talk?" Mar just sadly looked at his feet. Keira looked at the little at the little boy reading his body language, "You can't talk can you?" Mar just looked at her. Keira smiled, "It's okay, you don't have to. A… very good friend of mine used to be a mute. You remind me of him… at least… what he use to be." The smile fell from Keira's face. Mar looked up at her and then he hugged her arm; a small smile returned to Keira's face. She put a hand on top of the boy's head; her smile became bigger, "Well, I don't have anything really for you to play with." She said, looking around the garage and then she looked back at the kid, "What can we do?" She said. Mar jumped out of the rift rider and started to run around the garage, Keira smiled and began to chase him.

Back at the hideout Mutt was still scratching at the door to the play room. He didn't know where Mar was and that worried the small dog. Mutt finally started to howl hoping that someone would hear him and let him out of the room. The dog's cries fell down the stairs and into Torn's room, for once there was no one else in the hide out, he didn't have to worry about where the kids were so he was trying to get some much needed sleep. However Mutt's howls easily came into Torn's room and the ex-Krimson guard was unable to continue sleeping until he dealt with the crying animal. He got out of bed and followed the dog's cries up the stairs to the play room. Mutt could hear someone coming and stood back from the door a little waiting for it to open. However, once Mutt saw who it was that had opened the door the croca-dog, bared his teeth and growled at Torn- thinking that he had taken Mar away again. Torn, being half awake only looked at the angry dog with a bit of a blank look. Mutt lunged at the man but Torn just stood aside to keep the dog from hitting him and Mutt fell down the stairs; Mutt hit the landing with a howl of pain and laid there crying not able to move. Torn, now wide awake, ran down the stairs; he hadn't meant for the dog to get hurt- he didn't even think that the dog would fall down the stairs. Torn got to the bottom and reached out to pick up the dog. But the puppy looked at Torn and growled at him. Torn pulled his hands back and then glared at the dog; Mutt tried to get up, but he couldn't stand on his front right leg.

Torn looked at the dog and then picked him up. Mutt tried to squirm out of Torn's arms and even tried to bite him but with the way Torn was holding him Mutt wasn't able to bite or ever really scratch him. Torn took him to the infirmary; Charlie was out getting more supplies so Torn was going to have to deal with Mutt on his own. He put Mutt on one of the beds, the pup looked down and wisely decided not to jump off the bed, so he just laid down and watched Torn. Torn came back over to Mutt with two small wooden rods and bandages. He held out his hand and Mutt looked at it and put his hurt paw in Torn's hand. Torn put the rods on either side of Mutt's leg and then wrapped the bandages around them so that Mutt couldn't bend his leg and it could heal. Once Torn had tied the bandages he reached out a hand to pat Mutt on the head. Mutt didn't growl but let the man pat him. Torn started to scratch him behind the ears and Mutt's tail began to wag. Torn saw the guard tag that was around Mutt's neck and pulled it off and then continued to pet him

After a while Torn picked Mutt off the bed and put him back onto the ground. Torn started to walk back to his room and Mutt, not wanting to be alone, followed him. When they got to Torn's room, Torn got back into bed and was starting to fall back asleep when he felt someone pulling on the blanket. He looked and saw that Mutt was pawing at it and biting it. Torn rolled his eyes, picked up the pup and put him on the bed; Mutt laid down and both Torn and Mutt fell asleep.

Back at the garage, Keira had gotten the kid to take a nap. He was laying in the rift rider, Keira looked at him and smiled. She put a blanket (that she had for when she slept in her garage) and covered the small boy. She walked away from the sleeping boy and closed the curtain, she walked over to the racing zoomer that Jak had driven in the class three race that day. The zoomer had gotten a bit beaten up in the race but it was nothing that Keira couldn't fix. She got to work trying not to think about Jak, but she couldn't help it. She shouldn't had let what Daxter had said about Jak and Ashelin get to her; it was _Daxter_ after all, even as a kid he was always making jokes but usually it was about her and Jak having a relationship- or even her and Daxter- but his jokes had never bothered her before so why did they now? She was so into her work and her thoughts that she didn't hear someone walking up behind her and she jumped with a gasp when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned around and saw Errol standing there. At first she was relieved that it was just him but then she remembered who was sleeping behind the curtain. She didn't know what to do, "I didn't mean to scare you." Errol said.

"Um… it- it's nothing. Don't worry about it." She said, getting up and walking to the other side of the garage from where the curtain was. "What are you doing here anyways?" She asked. Her voice going a bit higher then it usually was.

Errol walked over to her, "I just had to come see you. I saw the race today and I got worried about you."

"Why?"

Errol took her hands in his, "Keira, you can tell me the truth. That man who won today, he's on your racing team, right?"

"Yes…" She said, feeling a bit uncomfortable about him being that close to her.

"Did he threaten you in anyway? Did he make you let him race?"

Keira shook her head, "No, no why would he?"

Errol grabbed her shoulders, "Keira, you don't have to be scared. If he's threatened you, tell me I'll protect you." He said as he ran his hands over her arms.

This made Keira feel a bit uncomfortable, she looked at him and pulled his hands off of her, "Errol, that was Jak and Daxter, you know- my friends that I've been looking for. They would never hurt or threaten me." She started to walk away from him, "Why are you so worried?" She smiled a little, "You're scared that you're going to lose the class one race this year?"

Errol looked at her, "I never worry about losing, I never do."

Keira crossed her arms, "There's a first time for everything Errol."

"I'm not worried about losing, I'm worried about your safety. Do you have any idea what that… _man_ is like? Do you know what he's done since he broke out of the fortress? Do you know what he can do?"

Keira looked at him confused, "The fortress? He was in prison?! And you didn't TELL ME !?" She yelled, angrily forgetting that the kid was sleeping behind the curtain. "I thought you were _**helping**_ me find him?!" She looked away from him sadly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I- I was trying to protect you. Yes, I knew where he was all this time but I couldn't tell. Whatever he was when you knew him- he's not that anymore."

She looked back at him over her shoulder, "I know he's… a bit different now. I could see that clearly when I looked at him. But I don't care; I know who he really is."

"Would you **wake up **Keira!?" Errol yelled. This woke Mar up, "This isn't some children's tale; and he's not some prince who will save you!" Mar rubbed his eyes as Errol continued to yell. "He's a monster! He's **killed **people! **Innocent** people!" Mar didn't like all the yelling, it scared him so he hid under the blanket staying quiet so that whoever was scaring him wouldn't find him.

Keira covered her ears, she didn't want to hear this, "Shut up! JUST SHUT UP!" Tears were in her eyes now, "I don't want to hear that!" She glared at him, "And you're one to talk, I hear what people say about **you**! You're a killer yourself and you bribe and scare innocent people just to get your way. You're a bully, plain a simple, you rely on the strength of the guards to get what you want. You want to call _Jak_ a monster? Well you're the only monster I've ever seen. And I've never turned my back on _you _so why would I turn on Jak?"

Errol glared at her but then his glare softened, "Keira, I'm… sorry. I just don't want to see you get hurt; I care about you too much. Yes, I know I'm… not the nicest person, but you have to understand the people I have to deal with. I've seen the worst this city has to offer and all I want is to keep the people I care about safe. That means you. And yes, I kill people, but it's my job."

"You're job is to keep peace." Keira said, in a much calmer tone.

"And more often than not, that means killing."

Keira shook her head, "There has to be a better way…"

Errol pulled her into what Keira hopped was just a friendly hug, "There isn't." It had gotten really quiet now the yelling had stopped so Mar slowly crawled out from under the blanket. He still didn't want who ever had been yelling to find him so he stayed quiet. But he crawled to the edge of the seat in the rift rider and knocked over a few tools that Keira had left there. They fell on the floor making a lowed crash; Mar crawled back under the covers to hide again. Errol and Keira heard the crash and Keira's face went pale, she had forgotten about the kid. Errol started to walk over to the curtain, "What was that?" He asked.

"Um- rats." Keira said, quickly running in front of him so he could get to the curtain.

Errol looked at her, confused, "Rats? You have a rat problem in here?"

"Eh- yeah, they're everywhere in here."

Errol looked at her, confused, "Rats? You have a rat problem in here?"

"Eh- yeah, they're everywhere in here."

"Do you want me to take care of them for you?"

"N-no. I… I called an exterminator earlier today. He's going to come by tomorrow and take care of it for me." She smiled.

Errol just looked at her, "Are you sure? I could take care of it right now." He said, pulling out his gun.

"NO!" She cleared her throat quickly, "No, really you don't need to do anything. Besides, I'm sure you're needed at the fortress or the Baron needs you or your niece is waiting for you for something."

Errol put his gun away, "Well I did tell Kat that I would take her to the palace today." He said, smiling, "Why don't you come with us?"

"Um… no, I have to fix this zoomer. That's going to take me forever."

Errol looked at the racing zoomer and smiled, "It doesn't matter what you do that thing, I'll still win the class one race like I always do."

Keira also smiled, "We'll see Errol. Now get going, Kat's probably waiting."

Errol started to walk out but then he looked back at Keira, "Keira, just keep in mind what I told you and be careful around… him."

"I'm fine Errol, don't worry about me." She watched him walk away and then waited a couple of seconds before she went behind the curtain and smiled as she looked at the lump under the blanket, she sat down next to it she started to tickle it, "It's okay, you can come out now." Mar crawled out from under the blanket and looked up at her. She smiled at him and then he crawled onto her lap and she hugged him. She didn't know why but there was just something about this young boy that made Keira happy every time she looked at him.

The sun was setting, by the Torn came by the garage to get the kid Mutt had followed Torn to his flyer and had come along for the ride. He walked in and found Keira finishing a story as the boy fell asleep in her arms. Keira saw the tattooed man and held Mar tighter thinking that this man could be a guard. Torn held up his hands, "It's okay, I'm with the underground."

"Prove it." Keira demanded, getting up, still holding the boy and walking back a little. She backed up to a table where she picked up one of her wrenches and held it behind her back.

"My name is Torn; Tess told me where she was taking the kid earlier today." Mutt started to bark loudly to get Mar's attention. Mar woke up and looked at Mutt, smiled and started to squirm. Keira had to put him down- lest she would drop him- and the boy ran to his dog who started to lick his face. Keira looked back at Torn and Torn just stared at her; Tess was right, she did look a lot like the small girl that was sleeping in the underground hideout. Torn shook his head, "Look, if you don't believe me then come with me to the hideout. Okay?"

Keira looked at the kid and then back at Torn, "Fine." She walked over and picked Mar up. Torn thought that Mutt was going to growl at her but he didn't he just wagged his tail and walked-limped next to her as they walked to Torn's flyer. Keira got in and kept Mar sitting on her lap. Torn picked Mutt up and put him in the flyer before climbing in himself. Keira looked at Torn as they flew through the city. "Is that dog yours?" She asked.

"No, he's the kid's. At least it seems like it."

"What's the deal with this kid anyways? Why is he so important?"

"He's the prince."

Keira just looked down at the little boy, nothing about the boy seemed to be very princely to her. His clothes were a mess, he didn't have any shoes or socks. Honestly, he looked like any other kid from the slums. The only thing that stood out to Keira was the amulet around the boy's neck. Keira hadn't really gotten a good look at it, however looking at it now she realized what it was. She looked back at Torn, "Why does the Baron want him so badly? He couldn't really be planning to hurt this little boy, could he?"

Torn's eyes narrowed, "He most likely would've if he ever got his hands on him. Just look what he did to the King. And the King and the Baron used to be friends."

Keira looked back at the boy who was now reaching to pet Mutt. "How do you know that?"

"Ashelin, she used to tell me alot about what was going on in the palace."

Keira looked at him a bit confused, "You're friends with the Baron's daughter?"

"Yeah, what of it? I know that Jak's friends with her too." Torn asked, slightly glaring at her.

Keira didn't say anything else the rest of the way to the hide out. Only when they were in the hide out did Keira feel okay about letting Mar go. She watched Mar walk to his bed and climb in; Keira smiled and then she looked at Torn who was back at the table, "So this is it, huh?" She asked.

"Yep." Torn said not looking up from his papers. Keira looked back at the boy and then she started to walk out, Torn looked up from what he was doing, "Where're you going?" He asked.

"Well now that I know that the boy's safe I'm heading back to my garage. It is getting late and I have a bit of a walk. But if you need me for anything just let me know, I would be glad to help." She smiled and then walked out.

**Jet: This chapter took me FOREVER. I'll try not to take so long with the others. So yeah, this chapter kinda looked at Keira a lot but you know what I really like her even in Jak 2 I liked her. And let me point this out- because people don't seem to get it. SHE NEVER CALLED JAK A MONSTER! Would everyone stop saying she did! Also here's something that I think everyone forgets, Keira is only sixteen in Jak 2 and she's stuck living on her own in Haven city.**

**Penny: Calm down Jet.**

**Jet: Sorry. I just can't stand it when I find people who say they don't like Keira just because they think she calls Jak a monster. But to talk about something else for a little while, Tara Strong has a song out that she sings. It's not connected to My Little Pony but really it's a good song. The song is called "Take My Hand: and I love it, really if you haven't heard it yet go look it up on YouTube. I'm so going to do a Jak and Keira vid with that song. Mostly because it is Keira singing and that's just great. So I guess I'll see everyone for the next chapter. See ya.**


	10. Forgotten Friends

Chapter 10: Forgotten Friends

**Jet: Okay, clearly I'm slipping out of doing the recaps- I don't know why but I just don't want really want to do them anymore. So sorry to anyone who does like them but I'm clearly not going to do them as much as I used to. I still might do them from time to time, but right now I just don't feel like it- so yeah hope everyone likes the chapter. This is another chapter that I just couldn't wait to get to.**

It had been three weeks since Keira had joined the underground and Torn had to admit she was very useful. Errol told her alot about what was going on in the palace; it seemed the Baron trusted Errol more than he trusted his own daughter. And Keira was even invited to the palace by Errol, so now the underground had both Keira and Ashelin on the inside. But there was still the fact to keep Ashelin safe: Torn had to keep being the spy. He had to tell them that now Jak and Daxter were looking for the tomb and that it wouldn't be long until they found it. Once Torn had told Errol about this, the next time that Errol had met up with Torn he brought the Baron with him.

Torn glared up at the man that he hated and the Baron glared back with his one eye. Torn looked at Errol, "Why'd you bring _him_? Finally going to have me arrested?" Torn asked.

Errol laughed, "Oh, don't you wish?"

"Prison is too good for you." The Baron said, "It's only a matter of time before you're caught in your lies by the underground and when that happens you will have no one else to help you and nowhere to go. Living for the rest of your life knowing that you have betrayed everyone you care about will be your punishment."

Torn cracked a smile, "You'd know a lot about betrayal, don't you Baron?"

Errol's mouth hung open and the Baron's eye narrowed in anger. He hit Torn across the face forcing him to the ground. Torn tried to get up but the Baron put a foot on Torn's back, pinning him to the ground. "I'll give you one chance Torn: Where is the tomb?"

Torn was unable to move, "We-we haven't found it yet, we're still missing a piece of the seal."

"And how do you plan on getting into the tomb without a member of the house of Mar?" Torn didn't answer he just kept struggling to get up. The Baron pressed down harder on Torn's back nearly breaking it, "I'm waiting for an answer Torn. If you don't answer me, then I will kill Ashelin myself...

I'll even let you watch."

Torn stopped struggling, he couldn't let Ashelin be killed; the underground wasn't worth as much to him as she was. "We have the Prince. We found him months ago; he's been living in the underground's hideout, we'll use him to open the tomb."

The Baron's eye widened, he lifted his foot off of Torn's back, "Very well, that's enough for now. Once the underground has found the final piece of the seal, you will tell me immediately." The Baron began to walk away with Errol following him.

Torn just laid there and glared at the Baron's back; "How could you threaten to kill your own daughter?" He asked angrily. The Baron didn't look at Torn, he just kept walking away. In truth, he could never kill his own daughter but Torn didn't have to know that. Torn just laid there for a while… not wanting to go back to the hideout.

At the hideout Mar, Keira and Mutt –who's leg was now healed- were playing in Samos' room. Samos was trying to work but he found it hard to not keep looking at his little girl play with her one and only friend in the whole world. The two had found a ball to play with and they were rolling it back and forth to each other, and Mutt ran between them chasing it. However all games must come to an end sooner or later, and once Keira let out a yawn Mar couldn't help but to yawn as well. Mutt on the other hand still wanted to play; he kept pushing the ball around with his paws as Keira walked over to her father, "Daddy." The small girl said, rubbing her eyes. Samos smiled, picked her up and put her in his bed so she could take a nap. Mar yawned and climbed into the bed and laid next to his friend. Keira looked at him and smiled, "Night kid." She said as she closed her eyes, Mar just smiled as he fell asleep. Samos just smiled at the two, then he looked at the picture that was on the bed side table; it had a woman with long blue hair and loving green eyes. Samos couldn't look at the picture, he sighed and then he got back to work.

After a while Torn returned to the hideout and Samos left the room to speak with him, leaving the two toddlers in the room with Mutt- who had laid down for a nap himself in a corner of the room. It was another hour before either of them woke up. Mar was the first to wake; he yawned and stretched then he looked around the room. His eyes found the picture on the bedside table; the more he looked at it the more he thought that she looked familiar- at least a little- but the young boy couldn't think about where he had seen her. Keira woke up and saw Mar looking at the picture. She got up and looked at it with him, "Mommy." She said, pointing to the woman in the image. Mar looked at Keira and she looked at him then the two got off the bed and then they headed for the door, Mutt saw them leaving and followed them.

The three of them headed for the play room but then Mar heard Jak's voice coming form down the hall, "Your men should be able to take care of themselves… _but_ I wouldn't mind taking out a few cruisers if that's what you're getting at."

Mar started to walk down the hall to the main room, Keira and Mutt following him as Torn told Jak what he needed to do. By the time they were peeking through the door Jak and Daxter were already walking out of the hideout. Torn looked at the papers on the table and then he angrily threw them all onto the floor; Keira and Mar hid beside the partially opened door, but Keira couldn't help but to let out a gasp which Torn heard. He looked to see the two kids and the pup standing there. He walked over to them and Keira and Mar just looked up at him. Torn looked at Mar and then he looked at his feet, "I'm sorry kid." He said. Mar just looked at him confused, Torn smiled and knelt down, "You two have no idea what's been going on and I hope neither of you ever find out." He looked at the floor again.

Keira walked over to Torn and hugged him. Torn was a little shocked but then he hugged the little girl back. "No sad." The toddler said.

Torn just held her tighter, "I'm not sad." He said, he let her go and stood back up, "Where's Kor?" He asked looking around. The two kids just looked at Torn. He rolled his eyes, "He's not watching you is he?" The toddlers shook their heads. Torn sighed, "All right, come on." He said, leading them to the play room. Mar, Keira and Mutt followed him. There wasn't anything for Torn to do at the moment, so he might as well watch the kids- at least that way he was doing something useful. At first Mar, Keira and Mutt played with each other and Torn just watched like what usually happened; but then Mutt walked over to Torn with a ball in his mouth. The croca-dog dropped the toy at Torn's feet, sat down and happily barked at him, wagging his tail. Torn picked up the toy and threw it across the room. Mutt chased it; brought it back and Torn threw it again. Mar and Keira just watched this a moment and then –wanting Torn to play with them- brought their toys to him and handed them to him. Torn sat down and started to play with them. Keira jumped onto Torn's back, wrapping her little arms around his neck; Torn smiled and managed to pull her off. He laid down on his back and held her up; this got the young girl to giggle and Torn couldn't help but to smile as well. For a short time he allowed himself to forget everything else that was going on and just played with the children.

The day seemed to slip by Torn, and in almost no time at all it was late and Samos was walking into the play room to get Keira and get her ready for bed. Samos opened the door and found Torn laying on the floor making a stuffed kanga-mouse dance for Keira, and Mar sitting on Torn's back just watching; Mutt was just sitting next to Torn with his tail wagging happily. Keira laughed at the dancing toy and Torn smiled. Keira reached for the toy and Torn let her take it, she held it close and then she saw her father and got up, "Daddy." She held the toy out to him, "Play daddy."

Samos picked her up, "Not tonight, Keira. It's time for bed."

"No." The toddler said, trying to get out of her father's grip. Samos just smiled and shook his head as he carried her downstairs.

Mar watched them go and then he looked at Torn; he just sighed and looked at the kid, "Okay, get off my back." Mar did as he was told and Torn got up and looked down at the boy, "I think it's time you went to bed as well." Mar just looked up at him sadly. Torn rolled his eyes, picked up the small boy and took him downstairs with Mutt following. When they got to the main room Torn put Mar down, and the small boy walked over to his bed and climbed into it, but he did not go to sleep instead he just sat there with his arms crossed, just looking at Torn, pout-fully. Torn just smiled and shook his head a little, "Go to sleep Kid." Mar shook his head. Torn didn't say another word to the boy and he eventually did drift off to sleep.

In what felt like no time to Mar he was being woken up by Samos. The young boy rubbed his eyes and looked at him. Samos didn't say anything; he just grabbed Mar's hand and lead him out of the hideout. Mar sleepily followed him into the street. It was still the middle of the night; where was Samos taking him? At the end of alley a flyer, that was being driven by another underground member, was waiting for them. Samos picked Mar up and buckled him into the flyer before climbing in himself. They took off to where Mar didn't know nor did he really care, the cool breeze that he felt from flying through the city felt good and Mar found himself falling back to sleep.

In what again felt like no time, Samos was again waking him. Mar looked around as the morning sun picked over the tall city buildings; he didn't know where he was; wherever it was, it was a much different place than the slums. The buildings looked nicer and better kept and where all the buildings in the slums had a mucky brown tint to them- in this part of the city everything had a bit of a blue tint to it, everything but the large "thing" that Mar was now standing in front of. It didn't look like much and all around where Mar stood there were chunks of concrete that were scattered all around like someone had taken a wrecking ball and smashed it into the building to reveal a door. Samos led Mar through this door and to an elevator that took them down below the city. When they stopped they found Kor waiting for them in front of another door. This place, whatever it was, gave Mar an almost uneasy and creepy feeling. He couldn't help but to look at the door: carved in the middle of it was the same symbol as the amulet that he had around his neck.

Mar started to walk to the door when he heard the elevator stop again. He looked to see Jak and Daxter walking off it. Jak walked up and stood behind Mar who looked up at him. Jak was just staring at the door as if he didn't know how to think about it. However, Samos' voice seemed to rip Jak from his thought, "You did it Jak." He said, "You actually found Mar's tomb."

"Great, now what?" Jak asked almost seeming a bit mad about the whole thing, "We send this poor kid into a meat grinder?"

Kor muttered something but no one was listening to him. Samos put his hand on Mar's shoulder, "You must be cautious child, the test of manhood are sure to be filled with peril, and Mar's heir must face them alone."

Mar just looked up at Samos and then Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder to stand next to the kid. "It's okay kid, you can do it." The rodent said, joyfully, "It's just a deep, dark, sure to be filled to brim with painful death… old… tomb." The joy in Daxter's voice seemed to fade, what Daxter said scared Mar and he almost started to cry. "I wouldn't go in there." Daxter added.

Then another much deeper voice came from the precursor carving that was above the door, "Welcome heir of Mar." It said, Mar didn't know what it was but that voice seemed to hypnotize him. "Finally the chosen one stands before me, enter and prove yourself worthy to receive an ancient birthright." The door began to open. Mar wanted to go in but Jak put his hand on Mar's shoulder to hold him back as he started to walk toward the door. He to seem to be in a trance, the oracle's voice spoke again, "No," Both Jak and Mar snapped out of the trance "this child is too young to face the test."

The door began to close again, "What? No!" Kor yelled.

"Do something Jak!" Samos yelled.

Jak ran for the door, Daxter ran after him; "Jak, remember the 'sure to be filled to the brim with painful **death**' part?!" Jak rolled under the closing door, Daxter turned and tried to run the other way but Jak grabbed his tail from under the door and in a flash Daxter was pulled to the other side as the door closed.

"Great tree limbs," Samos said, "He's gone to face the test."

"No." Kor said, looking at Samos, "He's gone to his death."

"Freeze!" A voice from behind them said.

Samos, Kor and Mar looked behind them to find not only about a dozen guards standing there, all of which were wearing yellow armor. But also Errol and The Baron, who was in what looked like a Spider-bot. The guards quickly grabbed Kor and Samos, and Errol grabbed Mar, who started to struggle, "We got you now boy." Errol said, grinning wickedly at the young child. Mar looked at Errol and started to cry and struggle harder.

The Baron climbed out of the robot, "Commander, let him go."

Errol looked at the Baron confused, "But sir-"

"Now!" The Baron commanded. Errol did as he was told and Mar just stood there still crying. The Baron knelt down, "Mar, you remember me, don't you?" He asked the young boy, "It's Uncle Erick, come here." He said in a tone of voice that none of the guards had ever heard the Baron use before, nor would they ever hear him use it again. Mar just looked at the Baron as he sniffled; he did look familiar, at least a little. "Come here Mar," He said again, "and I'll take you home."

Mar ran to the Baron, "No!" Samos yelled, unable to do anything.

Mar didn't care what else was going on, he did remember his uncle Erick and he wanted to go home. He jumped into Erick's arms and hugged him. Erick held the small boy close as he started to cry again. He stood up as he comforted the boy, "There there now; it's okay Mar. I know, I know." He looked at the two men that the guards had captured, "Get them out of my sight." He said, going back to the tone of voice that the guards were used to hearing. The guards did as they were told and took Kor and Samos away. As they were taken away Erick looked back at Mar and smiled, "Do you miss your dad, Mar?" Mar looked up at Erick and nodded. Erick just smiled bigger, "Well listen, I have to take care of something really important right now, but once I'm done with that I'll take you to your father." Mar just smiled and hugged Erick again. "Okay, Okay." He said pulling the small boy away from him a little. "But while I'm taking care of what I have to, Commander Errol is going to take you home." The Baron glared at the commander, "And if anything happens to him, there will be Hell to pay." Mar looked at Errol, who was walking over to him and Mar just held tighter to Erick, "It's okay Mar, he's not going to hurt you." Erick looked at Errol, "Take him to his old bedroom; I think he'd like that." He looked back at the boy, "Your dad had a surprise for your birthday waiting for you in your room. Better late than never, right?" Mar just giggled. Erick then handed Mar to Errol and then he climbed back into the robot. Mar reached out for his uncle as Errol carried him to the elevator. As they started to go back up Mar heard an explosion, the Baron had blown open the door to the tomb.

Errol took Mar to the palace which was right in front of where the tomb was, which was a good thing because Mar struggled against Errol's grip. The commander was happy when they got to Mar's old room; he opened the door, put the kid down, pushed him into the room and closed the door.

Mar looked around the room: it almost looked like the last time he had been there, except the crib that he had once slept in was no longer there; in its place was a red race car bed. Mar however, didn't know the difference, he didn't know that this was his old room; he didn't really remember much if any of his life before the underground. He could only remember Erick because of the poster in the underground hideout, and his father… well; Mar couldn't remember his father at all. But he saw how happy Keira was with her father- so why shouldn't he have his father back as well? But for now, Mar was just too sleepy to think about this so he climbed into the bed and fell asleep.

Ashelin was walking down the hall not much later and saw Errol standing outside of Mar's old room. She glared at him, "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Babysitting." He said; he didn't sound pleased one bit about it.

"Did your sister make you bring your niece into work again?"

"No. We finally found the boy."

"What!?" Ashelin asked, scared.

"Yep, your boyfriend Torn told us everything about the underground. All just to keep you safe. Your father told me to keep the boy his old room. Waste of time if you ask me. I could easy kill him now."

"Let me in there, Errol." Ashelin demanded, anger filling her voice at hearing that Torn had betrayed everyone. But she had to deal with that later, right now getting Mar out of the palace was the important thing.

Errol looked at her and smiled, "No."

"Move." She demanded. Errol just crossed his arms and leaned against the door. Ashelin wasn't going to let him stand in her way. She punched him causing him to bang the back of his head against the door and he fell on to the floor unconscious. Ashelin opened the door and walked in; she saw Mar sleeping in the bed, she walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder, "Mar, Mar wake up." Mar looked at her, and she hugged him, "Oh my god, I can't believe you're alright." Mar didn't know who she was. She pulled away from him, "I have to get you out of here." She picked him up and started to walk out. She smiled at Mar, "Mar guess what, I know where you dad is." Mar looked at her and smiled, "He's going to be so happy to see you, he's misses you so much."

Ashelin took Mar out of the palace and walked over to her zoomer. She put Mar on the seat and sat behind him, "Hold on Mar." She said. Mar held on to the handle bars in front of him. Ashelin also grabbed the handle bars, her arms would keep Mar from falling off and then they took off speeding to the fortress. Mar loved the ride, Ashelin drove also as fast as Jak did and Mar loved feeling of the wind whip across his face as they sped through the city. The ride was over too fast for Mar's liking; before he even knew it Ashelin was slowing down and parking the zoomer. She climbed off, picked Mar up and carried him inside.

She kept him hidden as best she could, keeping the other guards from seeing him. She had to get him to the top of the fortress where the hellcats were kept. As they walked, Ashelin overheard the other guards talk about how most of the underground was now captured, how they even had the shadow in prison now. She also heard some of the guards wonder if Torn had joined the underground on the Baron's orders to be their spy. Ashelin knew that wasn't the case but she was still mad at Torn for betraying everyone. The last thing that she overheard was that one of the older underground members had escaped and was somewhere in the fortress; this was good for Ashelin because if the other guards were busy looking for the underground members then they were too busy to see that she had the prince with her.

They got to the hanger and Mar ran to one of the hellcats as Ashelin opened the launch bay doors. She smiled at Mar as he climbed in and sat down. Mar also smiled at her but then Mar saw a familiar-looking old man coming up behind Ashelin. He moved so quietly that Ashelin didn't know he was there until he began to beat her with his walking stick. Kor put enough force into his first blow that one hit to the head was enough to knock her unconscious but just for good measure he hit her a few more times. Blood began to spill for her head. Kor would have gladly beaten her to death but Mar started to cry loudly, and Kor couldn't risk anyone hearing him, so Kor walked away from Ashelin, climbed into the hellcat and drove out of the building.

Mar looked at Kor in horror and continued to cry, "Shut up, boy!" Kor snapped, "I've had enough of you!" Mar just kept crying as Kor landed in dead town. He got out of the hellcat and then grabbed Mar by one of the straps on his overalls and dragged him away from the hellcat. Mar struggled and tried to get away but the old man just wouldn't let him go. They got to the edge of Dead Town where two flying Metal-heads were waiting for them. Mar had never seen a real Metal-head before so he didn't even know what they were; he just kept crying and trying to get away. Kor let him go and Mar fell onto the ground. He got up and then tried to run away. He didn't get far however before ran into a clear wall with a purplish tint. Mar looked around; he was trapped in a ball, he started to bang on the walls of his prison but it did no good. Kor and the Metal-heads just watched as Mar slowly began to feel sleepy and then he passed out. Kor ordered the Metal-heads to take Mar back to the nest and just keep him there, he told them that no harm was to come to the boy, for the honor of killing the Mar line was his and his alone. The Metal-heads grunted in understanding and did as their leader told them. Kor just watched them fly away, he had removed one issue but thanks to the boy the Baron had gotten the stone. But that was okay because the Baron was either going to hand him the stone or Kor would tear down the city to find it. The Metal-head leader hoped that the Baron wasn't just going to hand it over. The shield wall was becoming weaker everyday and once it fell then Kor wouldn't have to hide in this weak old looking form and he would be able to take on his true Metal-head form and tear the city down brick by brick.

Back at the fortress, the guards were in a bit of a panic. Jak had broken back in and managed to break out the captured underground members. The guards were searching the fortress just in case they were still hiding in there somewhere; some of the guards went up to the hanger and found the Baron's daughter laying on the floor, blood coming from her head. One of the guards went to check on her, her shallow breathing gave away the fact that she was in fact still alive. They took her to the infirmary where she was bandaged up and put onto a life support system. When the Baron got there he was furious and demanded to know what happened. No one knew what had happened so the Baron went to watch the security tapes;

He saw that Ashelin had taken Mar and had put him in a hellcat, if she had been taking him back to the underground she wouldn't have needed a hellcat, she must have been planning to take him out into the wasteland… where Damas was. Any anger that he had when he had found out that Errol had let Ashelin take him was gone, she was only trying to do what he himself had been trying to do. He kept watching and saw the old man that had been captured at the tomb beat his daughter and then ride off in the hellcat taking Mar with him. Mar was gone again and now Ashelin was seriously hurt. Yes, he was upset that he had lost Mar but Ashelin was his one and only child and to him right now she was more important to him.

It was beginning to get late and back at the underground hideout, Torn found himself in some deep shit. Now everyone knew that he had betrayed them and because of that most of the underground wouldn't even look at him, let alone talk to him. However even with what Torn had done, the underground was still a little put off by the fact that now there wasn't just one Samos, but two. Granted one of them looked much older than the other but there was no getting around it- there were two of them, and really even though they were somehow the same person they argued a lot.

"Would you listen to yourself!" The older Samos said, "We need to _find_ the kid."

"Maybe you should try listening." The younger Samos said, "Kor got out before Jak came and found us, I'm sure he will find the boy."

"That is exactly what I'm worried about. You cannot trust Kor!"

"And why not?"

"I can't tell you. If I did, it might change the course of what must happen. I've already lived through this, why aren't you listening to _me_?"

"If you have lived through this, then you already know how this conversation will end." The younger Samos said. He walked to the door, opened it and found Keira standing there with Mutt next to her.

She looked up at him, "Daddy, where kid?" She said.

The younger Samos picked her up, "Don't worry Keira, I'm sure he's alright."

The older Samos just looked at the toddler as tears began to fill his eyes, "Keira." He said.

The toddler looked at him and then she looked back at the younger Samos and then back at the older one. The toddler was very confused, "Daddy…?" She said. The older Samos walked closer to her and ran his hand through her hair. Keira smiled at him and reached for him. Older Samos took her out of younger Samos' arms and held her tight as he cried, this was the first time in almost three years he had seen his daughter and the first time in a long time that he was able to pick her up and hold her tight.

Keira fell asleep in his arms and the older Samos tucked her into bed. As he walked out of the room Mutt climbed up onto the bed and curled up at the end of it to sleep. The younger Samos just looked at his older self, "If you're really my older self, then where's your Keira? Does something happen to her?" There was clear worry in his voice.

The older Samos just looked at his younger self and smiled, "She grows up, into a beautiful and smart young woman. In fact her brains and creativity are going to be very important in the future… so to speak."

"But where is she now? Is she alright?"

"I haven't seen her in almost three years, but I know she's alright and I'll see her soon."

"But where is she?"

The older Samos smiled, "This all happened so long ago that I don't remember where she is. But she'll find me soon enough." The older Samos began to walk down the hall and into an open room leaving his younger self standing there and looking into Keira's room to watch her sleep.

**Jet: Oh boy, the chapter is over and now we are into act three which means we're nearing the end of the story.**

**Penny: But the kid was taken to the nest, he's not seen anywhere in act three you could just jump to the end of the game next chapter if you wanted to.**

**Jet: Yes, I know but I'm not going to. I've got some stuff I got planned that I need to do- speaking of plans I'm going to reboot Lilly's story mostly because I was reading the next generation a little while ago and… how did I write like that? That story is done so poorly that I have to reboot it. But I'm not doing that for a long while. So readers tell me what you think about this one. I'll see everyone next time.**

**Jak: Hey Jet, Ashelin wants to talk to you.**

**Ashelin (Cracking her knuckles): Hi Jet, let's talk about why you had Kor nearly bet me to death.**

**Jet (Running away): Gotta go.**


	11. A Bitter-Sweet Reunion

Chapter 11: A Bitter-Sweet Reunion

**Jet: I think it's safe to say that I need to do a recap… **

**Penny: You think? **

**Jet: Okay, so last chapter, Torn told the Baron and Errol that Jak and Daxter were looking for Mar's tomb. When The Baron asked how the Underground were getting into the tomb, Torn told them that they had the kid; he told them because The Baron said he would kill Ashelin if Torn didn't tell him what he wanted to know. Meanwhile, at the hideout no one knows what Torn is doing and Mar, Keira and Mutt are just playing around. The three take a nap and when they wake up they hear Torn sending Jak and Daxter on that mission where Jak has to kill the hellcats. I always had such a hard time with that one when I was little- anyways, after Jak and Daxter leave, Torn shows his frustration by thrusting some papers onto the floor. This slightly frightens Keira, and Torn is now aware that they are there. He comforts the little girl and then goes and plays with them- because Kor is nowhere to be seen; he plays with them and then the kids go to bed. The next day, Mar is woken up and taken to the tomb. And I have to point this out: I know that the kid is the only one that can open the tomb but why does Samos think it's a good idea to send a **_**two year old **_**into there? He's just a little kid, he wouldn't stand a chance in there; they wouldn't get the stone. And Jak seems to be the only one who thinks it's a bad idea to send a defenseless little boy into a deadly tomb. Slight gripe there, sorry. Anyways, so yeah cutscene moment; Daxter almost makes Mar cry and Jak goes into the tomb himself and he makes Daxter come along by pulling under the slowly closing door, **_**Indiana Jones**_** style, and then the guards show up. Kor and Samos are arrested and Errol grabs the boy and scares him a bit. But the Baron shows that there is still a bit of him that is the same Erick from **_**The Untold Story**_**; Mar knows who he is and goes to him willingly- and I loved writing that. The Baron has Errol take Mar back to the palace. Errol keeps Mar in his old room where Ashelin (after punching Errol out cold) finds him. Not knowing what her father has planned for the little boy, she tells him that she knows where his father is and she takes him to the fortress where all the Hellcats are stored. She's about to take him out into the wasteland where she knows where Damas is… and then Kor shows up and nearly beats her to death. He would have if Mar hadn't been crying. Thinking that he can't keep the boy in the city anymore, he takes him to Dead Town where two other metal-heads take him to the nest. Now Keira has lost her only friend and Mutt feels bad because he lost Mar… again. Also, the older Samos showed up and he sees little Keira and… it's just so cute. But that's it. Time to read…**

Keira woke the next morning and saw Mutt lying on the end of her bed. She patted him on the head and then she jumped out of bed and walked over to the door. She opened it and started to walk down the hall with Mutt following her; she was heading to the main room of the hideout. She could hear her father (both the older and younger versions) talking, "If any of those blast bots reach this place, we're dead." The older one said.

"Aw, what are you worried about, old man?" The younger one asked, "You're almost dead anyways."

"Well, if you'd taken better care of yourself I wouldn't be in the state I am now!"

"Take out those blast bots before they reach the hideout, Jak," The younger Samos said, clearly changing the subject. "They have proximity defenses, so do be careful."

"Good hunting." Both Samoses said.

Keira got to the door and saw Jak walk away. Mutt wagged his tail happily and ran after him, Jak stopped and looked at him and then he walked out. Mutt followed him out of the hideout, leaving Keira all alone. She looked at Mar's bed but he wasn't there, the small girl walked out the door, "Daddy." She said. Both Samoses looked at her and the younger one picked her up, "Where kid?" she asked sadly.

Samos looked at his older self and then he looked back at his daughter, "I don't know."

"Don't worry Keira," the older Samos said, smiling at her, "I'm sure he's fine, you'll see him again."

Mutt followed Jak as he destroyed the death bots; once the last one was destroyed Jak looked at the dog and smiled, he knelt down and started to pat the dog on the head. Daxter looked around and then nudged Jak on the head, "Um Jak, we've got company." Jak looked to see Krimzon guards heading for him. Jak looked at his gun; he could kill them, it would be easy- but he didn't feel like it. So instead he headed for the nearest flyer and jumped in with Mutt following him. Jak took off, leaving the guards in the dust. Mutt barked happily as they flew through the city. Daxter looked at Jak, "Where do you think all the Hellcats are?" He asked.

"How should I know?" Jak asked as he drove into the industrial session of the city. He 'parked' the flyer at the base of the ramp outside of the power station; all three of them got out of the flyer and headed for up the ramp.

They walked in and found Kor alone, working on one of the computers. He looked back to see them walking in as Mutt started to look around the room for Mar. "I can't believe it," Kor said, "we were so close. The Baron stole the Precursor stone right out from under us. And after all of our planning and hard work, Torn has betrayed the cause."

"Torn meant well, he was protecting one of our own." Jak said.

Mutt sat down in defeat- knowing that he was not going to find Mar here- as Kor kept talking, "I've underestimated this Baron, and now it appears that he has taken the boy as well." Everyone looked at where Mutt was sitting. The croca-dog hung his head in shame… he had lost Mar again. He lied down and just looked away from the people in the room. "I want you to go out to the drill platform again. If you can destroy the main control tower there, it should temporary stop the Baron's use of eco to harm us."

Jak and Daxter headed for the warp gate but then Jak looked at the sad little dog. He walked over to him and knelt down to pet him. Mutt looked at him and his tail started to wag, "Why don't you go back to the hide out, boy?" Jak said as he started to scratch Mutt behind the ear. Mutt stood up and started to lick Jak's face joyfully, the renegade started to laugh happily, "Hey!" He said, pushing the dog away, "That's enough." Jak stood back up and wiped away the dog slobber as Daxter jumped back up onto his shoulder. Jak started to walk away and Mutt barked at him. Jak looked back at the puppy who whimpered a little, "Go back to the hideout, boy." He said. Mutt watched him jump through the warp gate

Mutt just sat there, waiting for Jak to come back and then he felt Kor's wooden stick collide with his middle and he yelped as he fell onto his side, "Get out of my way, dog." Kor said. Mutt got up, growling at the old man. Kor didn't pay him any mind as he kept pressing at the buttons on the computer. Mutt jumped at him and made an attempt to bite his leg- but Kor didn't even look away from the computer and just kicked Mutt away. Mutt laid on the floor whimpering, then looked at Kor. What was he supposed to do? Mar was gone and he didn't know where. And being around Jak confused him, it was just a strange vibe he got from Jak that, to him, seemed almost like the kid but that couldn't be right… could it?

Mutt limped out of power station as Vin walked in. Vin jumped at the sight of the dog but then he recognized Mutt and knelt down to pet him. Mutt whimpered a little as Vin patted him on the head. Vin got up and walked into the power station and Mutt limped back to the slums. As he walked into the slum area he saw a familiar woman walking out of one of the houses, Mutt barked happily as he limped over to her. The woman looked down at him and smiled, "Hey, I remember you." she said, "You were with the kid." The woman said, as she started to pet him. She saw that he was limping, "What's wrong with you, are you hurt?" She asked. Mutt just whimpered, "Poor thing." The woman said as she picked him up and started to walk down the street. Mutt didn't protest.

She took him back to the underground hideout, "Hello." She called, "Is anyone here?" She put Mutt down as she heard someone running down the hall.

The older Samos came running into the room and he looked at the woman who was standing there, disbelief on his face, "_Keira_?" he said, unbelieving.

Keira looked at her father, a similar look of disbelief on her face, "Daddy?" She ran to him, knelt down and the two hugged each other. "Daddy, I've missed you so much!" She said as she started to cry.

"I've missed you too. It's okay, I'm here now." They pulled apart and looked at each other, "Where have you been all this time?" He asked.

"I been living here in the slums, but I spend most of my time at my garage in the stadium. But where have you been? I've been in this hideout a few times now and I've never seen you here before."

"You were in prison too?" Keira asked, fear now coming into her voice, "Daddy… they didn't put you on that project too, did they?"

Samos smiled and cupped his daughter's cheek in his hand, "No, they didn't, you don't have to worry. I was just locked up and a bit forgotten that's all." Keira hugged her father again and tears began to fall onto her face. Samos just held her tight, "Keira," she pulled away from him to look at him, "there is a few things that I need to explain to you." Keira let him explain about the younger versions of himself and her, and he told her about the boy and what role he played in all of this.

"Wait," Keira said, stopping her father after he had told her about the boy, "Does Jak know any of this?" She asked.

Samos sighed, "He knows about my time twin, but that's all he knows."

"You haven't told him?"

"He will find out when the time is right."

Keira sighed, she trusted her father's judgment; if he felt it best that Jak shouldn't known yet then she would respect that, but that didn't mean that she liked it. She just looked around the hideout, "So… there's a… 'baby' version of me somewhere in here?" She said.

Samos looked at her, "Yes."

"I want to see her… me… whatever it is." She said as she stood up.

Samos sighed sadly, he remembered what was going to happen next very well and he knew that when his Keira found out she would be a bit upset, but this was something that had to happen because it had happened before and he couldn't stop it. "Alright," he said, starting to walk down the hall, "Come on."

He lead her down the hall and up a flight of stairs, Mutt followed them. It was strange, Keira had never been in any other part of the hideout except for the main room and yet she knew that behind the door at the top of the stairs was a room filled with toys for young children. Then again, if there was a younger version of her here then that meant that she had lived there at some point in her life. She had also always had a bit of a strange memory; she knew that her mother had died the day that she was born. And yet still, Keira had a memory, just one memory of her mother holding her, and for a long time she thought that she had made that up in her head.

Samos opened the door and Keira saw a little girl sitting all by herself in a room filled with toys, a little girl that looked a lot like her. Mutt ran over to her and sat down in front of her. The toddler looked at Mutt and smiled, "Puppy." She said happily. The younger Keira wrapped her arms round Mutt's neck, happy to see him, Mutt's tail wagged happily. The dog pulled out of the child's grip and started to walk back over to the older Keira, barking happily. The young girl looked at the older she-elf; at first she didn't know what to think, neither of them did. But then the toddler smiled and ran to her older self and hugged her leg, "Mommy!" She said. The older Keira felt her heart fill with sadness; she had never seen her mother… _this_ is what had happened. When she was a toddler she had seen herself and thought it was her mother. Keira knelt down and hugged the small girl as tears filled her eyes. She ran her hand through the short blue-green hair on the toddler's head. One day this child would know the truth but for now Keira let her younger self believe that her mother had come back to her. Keira let her younger self go and the toddler grabbed her hand, "Mommy, play."

"Okay." The older Keira said as the toddler dragged her to a pile of toys.

Samos stood there and watched as his younger self walked into the room and saw the older Keira. His mouth fell open and he looked at his older self, "That's your Keira, isn't it?"

"Yes." The older Samos said.

"She looked a lot like Alley."

"You're not the only one who sees that."

The younger Samos looked as the toddler happily played with her older self and understood what was going on, "Should we really let her think this?"

"We have too." The older Samos said, "Keira will hold on to this memory, and it makes her happy."

The two just looked at their Keiras. The younger Samos looked at his older self, "So this whole time you've just let her believe that her mother came back from the dead just to see her?"

"Yes." The older one said as Mutt limped over to the girls and began to play with them.

"Why can't you tell me what's going to happen?" The older Samos just smiled at his younger self not saying a word.

After about an hour of playing, the younger Keira yawned. The older Keira cradled her younger self in her arms, "Are you getting sleepy, Keira?" She asked. The toddler nodded and Keira smiled, "Well then you should go to bed." Keira stood up and carried the little girl downstairs, Mutt following her.

Keira put the toddler in her bed and smiled as she yawned again, "Good night, mommy." She said, falling asleep. Mutt jumped up onto the bed and curled up, also taking a nap.

"Good night, Keira." The teen walked out the room, closed the door, and began to cry.

Samos saw his daughter and walked up to her, "Keira, are you alright?"

"You knew…" She said as her tears rolled down her cheeks, "You knew all this was going to happen. You knew that Daxter was going to fall into that pool of Dark eco. You knew we find the ring." She looked at him, "And, you knew what was going to happen to Jak, and you never tried to stop it. Why?"

Samos took her hand, "Why don't we go for a walk and I'll tell you everything."

They walked into the streets; Keira looked at him, waiting for him to start. It took him a moment to begin, he sadly looked at the ground, "Keira, you don't know how much I wish that I could have stopped what was going to happen. Yes, I did know that Jak was going to be in prison and I knew what that would do to him. But Keira you have to understand, he needed that to happen."

"Why?" Keira asked, "_Why_ did that need to happen… to him? I don't understand."

"Jak has a destiny he must face and without his dark powers he wouldn't survive it."

Keira looked away from her father sadly, "Okay… but why did it have to be him? He'd never did anything to anyone- he never asked to be the hero, so why him?"

He looked at her, "That Keira, I don't fully know. It's very likely that it's because of his power to channel eco. Do you remember what happened when he used light eco? The power he had?"

"Yes, I remember. If it wasn't for that he never would have stopped Gol and Maia. But why does he have to use dark eco, why can't we just find more light eco for him to use?"

Samos shook his head, "I wish we could, but you know how rare light eco is. Dark eco is everywhere and Jak is going to need it."

Keira looked sadly away from him and didn't say anything for a few moments; Samos waited for her to gather her thoughts. They were walking into the stadium section of the city before she said anything, "I'm scared daddy. You've always told us how deadly dark eco was. What if these powers kill Jak? What then?"

"I don't fully know what's going to happen after this year." Samos smiled, "But I do know this: these dark powers will not be Jak's death. So don't worry about that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am."

Keira smiled, "Thanks daddy."

Samos looked around, "Keira, where are we going anyways?"

"My garage; the class two race is going to start soon so Jak and Daxter are going to be there," She sighed, "It's really the only time that I get to see Jak now."

Samos put his hand on her back, "I know he's a bit different now and that he might not really show it, but I know he's happy that you're alright and that this city hasn't changed you much, just as I am."

Keira smiled at him, "You knew I was alright, didn't you?"

Samos chuckled, "Yes I did. I don't know what's been going on in your life but I knew you were okay."

"Because you already lived through this, right?" She asked, smiling at him.

"That did help." Samos admitted.

The two talked more and they laughed as Keira told her father about what had been going on in her life over the past three years. They walked up the stairs to the stadium and walked into her garage, "It's great to have you back, daddy." Keira said, feeling much happier than she had in the hideout. She didn't even see that Jak, Daxter and Errol were in her garage.

"Yes," Samos said, also not seen the boys, "It's nice to be free again."

Samos started talking a bit about how much he had missed the fresh air and Keira heard Errol laugh. This finally made her see who was there; she watched Errol walk away. She sighed, still so happy about having her father back that not even the sight of Errol could make her upset, "Errol's the best racer I've ever seen." She said, looking at Jak.

Jak looked at her, "He's not what you think."

"And you're a good judge of charter? Ha!" She said, in more of a joking tone, did he really think that she didn't know the kind of person _Errol_ was? She had known the guy for two years- almost three. But then her tone got a bit more serious, "Look at you, people say you get angry and… change."

Jak glared at her a little, "You don't know anything about what I've been through." He said, Daxter backed up a little seeing that Jak was starting to get a bit angry, "And you don't know the kind of person Errol really is."

Keira glared back at Jak, rattled up by this, "Yeah, and I don't really know the kind of person _you_ really are either. The Jak I knew would never be working for a guy like Krew. And he wouldn't use his powers to kill innocent people."

Jak looked at her, shocked, "I need Krew connections to fight the Baron, without my…" he stopped; he didn't need to explain himself to her. She's just said that he wasn't the Jak she knew and she was right, he wasn't the boy he used to be back in Sandover and if she couldn't accept the person he was now then maybe they _should_ go their separate ways, "You know what, do it your way and I'll do it mine." He looked away from her and started to walk out, "Just don't come crying to me when the walls fall down." Keira just stood there and watched him go; what had just happened?

"Um Jak… where you going there, pal?" Daxter asked, Jak didn't answer as he walked out of sight, "Jak? Jak?!"

"Attention all drivers," a female robotic voice said, "The class two race is about to begin."

Daxter looked at Keira, "Now what are we going to do?!" He asked, a bit panicked.

Keira took a deep breath; she was going to have to talk with Jak later. She looked at Daxter with a smile, "You'll have to drive for the team, Daxter. We need this win to qualify for the final championship."

"How hard could it be?" Daxter asked, more to himself, "Just hold on tight and point the thingy were I want it go right? Then there's the other thingy that makes it go fast… fast is good." He looked at Keira with a smile, "I can do this, I'm ready to race!"

"How is he going to drive a racing Zoomer?" Samos asked, "Isn't he a bit on the short side of that?"

Daxter looked at him, "Why do you always have to bring down my cheer?"

Keira looked at him, "I can take care of that." She grabbed a tool box and started to walk out of the garage, "Come on, we don't have much time." Daxter and Keira started to walk out, but Samos took a moment to look at the green curtain and he smiled before following them to the track. He looked at Keira, who now thought that no one was looking- had a look of guilt on her face.

They walked into the track and the roar of the cheering crowd hit them. Daxter and Keira walked over to the racing Zoomer but Samos looked up into the stands. In a sea of cheering people, Jak stood out like a sore thumb mostly because there was almost no one around him. He was sitting in the front row, leaning on the rail just looking at Keira as she worked. Samos shook his head and made his way up to where Jak was sitting. By the time he got there the race had all ready started, Keira was heading back to her garage and Daxter was fighting to get higher up in ranks than he was. Samos sat down next to Jak, who either didn't know he was there or was flat-out ignoring him. Jak winced a little as he saw Daxter take a turn a bit too fast and ride up a wall, causing him to lose speed. Samos just watched, "I never did understand what was so fun about watching people kill themselves in these races." He chuckled a little and looked at Jak from the corner of his eye. Jak didn't say anything, he was just watching Daxter race. Samos also looked back at the track as Daxter zipped past where they sat, passing the racer in front of him just a bit. Samos shook his head, "You know she wasn't trying to fight, right?" He asked.

"I know." Jak said. He wouldn't look at Samos, "You're going to tell me that I shouldn't have said what I did, aren't you?"

"No." Samos said simply. Now Jak looked at him. "You don't need me to tell you right from wrong, Jak. You already know."

Jak looked back at the track, "I'm not so sure I do anymore. Keira was right, the person I used to be wouldn't kill all the people that I have… I'm not fully sure who I am anymore Samos."

Samos smiled, "Don't worry; you'll figure it out in time." They went back to watching the race, it was now the third lap and Daxter was now right behind the leader. "You are going to have to at least talk to her."

"I know." Jak said, then he let out a groan as Daxter once again took a turn too fast and drifted up the wall, falling back into third.

Samos shook his head, "He's not doing that bad you know."

"No, he's not, but if he doesn't win this, I'll never be able to get to the Baron." Jak shook his head, "I shouldn't have walked out like that."

"No, you shouldn't have, but we can't do anything about that now. We just have to hope that Daxter wins." Samos looked back to the race, "Look he's back in second." Jak smiled; Daxter would not let him down.

A blond woman came up to them, and sat down next to Jak, "Hey Jak."

"Hi Tess." Jak said, not even looking at her.

She looked at the track, "Go Daxter go!" She cheered. Jak just smiled.

Keira wasn't watching the race; she was back in her garage working on her project, trying not to think about Jak, but she just couldn't help it. Why did she say what she had? _'The Jak I knew wouldn't be working for a guy like Krew.'_ Her voice echoed inside her head, _'The Jak I knew… The Jak I knew.' _Why, why would she say something like that? Jak was a different person now, she knew that, she could see that every time she looked at him but she knew that there had to be some part of him that hadn't changed. Some part of him that was still the Jak that she'd grown up with.

She looked up when she heard Daxter's voice. "See Tess baby, what did I tell ya?" He asked. Keira heard Tess laugh and she heard something metal being put down onto a table. She looked behind the curtain. Daxter was admiring his reflection in the trophy, "Now there's a handsome winner."

Keira smiled and came over to him, "You did it, Daxter." She said happily, "You help us qualify for the big race."

"Did you ever doubt?" Daxter asked, "I back-seat drive for Jak all the time." The smile fell from Keira's face at the sound of Jak's name. "Hey!" Daxter said looking at Tess, "When do I get the winner's big kiss?" He asked leaning on the trophy. Keira saw Jak walk in.

"Maybe later," Tess said, "If you're a good boy." She rubbed her hand on Daxter head as Jak walked up to them.

Daxter looked at him, "Hey…" he said, not sure if Jak was still a bit mad or not. "We showed those class two losers a thing or two?" He said, jumping onto the ground.

"I saw." Jak said, he tone didn't seem angry, "You drifted a little high in the turns a few times," Daxter's ears flopped back, "but you hung in there." He crouched down to be more at Daxter's level, "I'm proud of you, Dax." He said, fist bumping Daxter. For the first time in a long time, Keira saw Jak smiling.

"Really?" Daxter asked, his ears perking up.

"Yeah, you did great." Jak said, standing back up.

"No," Daxter said, "we did great." Daxter jumped back up onto Jak's shoulder, "Right partner?"

Jak looked at Keira, the smile gone from his face. She looked away from him; he was still mad at her. He turned away from her and walked out. She looked back at him and watched him leave. Tess looked at her and put her hands on her hips, "Alright, what's going on?" She asked. Keira looked at her and told her _everything_, breaking down into tears.

Back at the hideout, the younger Keira was waking up. She looked around the room, "Mommy?" She said, looking around the room. Mutt looked at her. "Mommy?" She said again, Mutt walked up closer to her. Keira looked at him and then got out of bed. She walked to the door, she tried to reach for the door knob but she was too short; she tried jumping for it but she couldn't reach it. Mutt started to howl and the younger Samos opened the door. Keira looked up at him, "Where's mommy?" He just looked at her, not knowing what to tell her. He picked her up without saying a word and started to walk to the main room with Mutt following them. One day Keira would know what had really happened but until then Samos was just going to let her believe that the woman she had played with was her mother, just so she could have one memory… even if it was a lie

**Jet: I know, it was another Keira chapter. But here's the thing, Mar has been taken to the Metal-head nest and is not doing anything. So yeah, this was another Keira chapter.**

**Keira: What did I do to make people hate me?**

**Jak: People don't hate you.**

**Jet: Well there are people who think that you called Jak a monster.**

**Keira: When did I do that?**

**Jet: I think it came from when you said that when he gets angry he changes and- **

**Keira: Okay, I said he **_**changes,**_** but I never said he's a monster. **

**Jak: Keira, I know that, shouldn't that be all that matters? **

**Keira: I guess so.**

**Penny: See people! Jak can forgive Keira for a misunderstanding. WHY CAN'T ALL OF YOU!? **

**Jet: Calm down, Penny. See everyone for the next chapter.**


	12. What's Worth Living For

**Jet: Hey everybody. Here's the new chapter, hope you like it.**

Chapter 12: What's Worth Living For

Samos carried Keira into the main room of the hideout with Mutt following close behind them. Samos looked around; the only ones there were a few underground members, "Where's Torn?" Samos asked.

"We don't know." One of the men said, looking at him.

"Well, find him." Samos said.

"Why bother?" The other man said, looking at the paper's on the table, "He betrayed us all. If he left; good riddance. If he's dead; then that's what he deserved."

Samos just glared at the men, "He is one of us, no matter what he did. He only sold us out to protect someone he loves. Wouldn't you have done the same if The Baron was threatening someone you cared for?" Both men looked at their feet, knowing that they would if they were in Torn's place. Samos just looked at them, "Find him." and with that the men left to look for Torn; however they weren't going to find him, because he was walking into the fortress at that very moment to hand himself into the guards.

The guards took him and threw him into a cell to wait for further instructions. Torn just sat on the bed and sighed. He didn't know why they were waiting- there was really no point to it; he had deserted the guard, something that –under the Baron's rule- meant death. But not only had he left the guard but he was also an underground member; so they could be planning to torture information out of him, but that was very unlikely- he had told them more information about the underground this year than they ever were able to find. There wasn't much more he could tell.

So, they were all most likely waiting for the order to kill Torn and really, he wished they'd hurried up. He didn't want to live anymore- why should he? He had betrayed the underground, the closest thing to a family that he had had since his parents had died and he betrayed them to protect the woman he loved. But she most likely knew what he had done by now; Errol or the Baron would have told Ashelin by now that he betrayed the underground. Torn could just hear Errol's gloating voice tell Ashelin that the man she _loved _had turned his back on the Underground, leaving out the fact that he did it for her. So she most likely hated him now. Everyone that he had ever cared for most likely hated him… so what was the point in living?

He reached back to grab the handle of his dagger but all he grabbed was air. The guards had taken his weapons away; he didn't really care about the guns- it was his father's dagger that he wanted back, not to take his own life but just to have it. That dagger was all he had left of his father, of his family, of his life that he could hold onto and the guards had taken it and thrown it aside as if it was worth nothing. So Torn just sat there, not saying a word and trying to remember the few good memories that he had as he awaited his death.

Meanwhile, at the palace, Errol was walking down one of the many hallways. He was looking at the dagger that he held; Torn had seemed very reluctant to give it up, why? To him it looked like any other knife. He held the dagger at his side as he entered one of the rooms, he saw Ashelin still laying in her bed unconscious. Her father was sitting next to her, just stroking her hair, silently promising her that he would make the man that did this to her pay.

Errol cleared his throat and the Baron looked at him, "What?" He asked, his tone made it clear that he didn't want to be disturbed.

"I just thought you might want to know that Torn has turned himself in."

"He's in the fortress?"

"Yes, we're just waiting for the order to execute him." The Baron looked at his daughter, with one word he could end Torn's life, he could kill the boy who loved his daughter but Torn most likely could tell him who the man that had attacked Ashelin was. Errol just looked at the Baron, "Sir?" The Baron looked at Errol and then he walked out without a word. Errol looked at Ashelin and then he followed the Baron.

They went to the fortress; The Baron walked to Torn's cell without a word. Errol opened the door and Torn didn't even bother to look at him. The Baron and Errol just stood there and Torn just sat on the bed without saying a word to each other. After a moment Torn finally spoke, "What are you waiting for?" He asked, looking at the floor, "There's nothing else I can tell you about the underground and they now know what I've done. You've lost your spy. I'm of no more use to you, so just kill me."

"I think you are still of use to me." The Baron said, "I'm going to make a deal with you. You hand me just _one_ specific member of the underground."

Torn smirked and chuckled a little, "Sorry, but I've grown to see Jak as a bit of a friend. I won't hand him to you."

Errol just looked at him but the Baron shook his head, "I'll get Jak on my own. Now listen, I know how you feel about Ashelin and I know how she feels about you. I destroyed my relationship with her long ago and I don't want her to be alone. You can think that I'm… horrible, that I'm cruel, but you and I have one thing in common and that is we both love Ashelin."

Errol was so confused and Torn just wouldn't look at him, "You threatened to kill her just to make me be your spy. You expect me to believe that you really care about her?"

"I knew you would do it and I wouldn't have to hurt her; I wouldn't have been able to." The Baron went quiet a moment, "You turned your back on your friends just to keep Ashelin safe. But now I need you to tell me the name of just one member of the underground. And I know you will because he not only attacked Ashelin but he almost killed her."

Now Torn looked at the Baron, shock and confusion on his face, "What?!" Torn stood up, "Who?!"

"I don't know, that's why I need you. You help me find me the man that did this to her and I'll forgive all your crimes." Torn didn't say a word, he just nodded. The Baron held out his hand and Torn took it.

Errol just stood there, his mouth hanging open as they walked past him.

The three of them watched the security tape and with every blow that Torn saw to Ashelin his face became more and more hate-filled. The Baron turned off the tape and looked at Torn, "Who is it?" He asked.

Torn clenched his fist tightly and looked at the floor, "Kor." He said, "The man's name's is Kor."

The Baron nodded and looked at Errol, "Find him." He ordered. Errol started to walk away when Torn saw him carrying his knife, Torn snatched it back. Errol looked at him as Torn stuck the dagger back into the holder on his back. Errol just looked at him, he was about to say something when the Baron again ordered him to go; Errol looked away from him and left. The Baron took Torn back to the palace. Torn saw Ashelin lying there in her bed, he went over to her and just sat down.

A month passed, Torn stayed in the palace almost never leaving Ashelin's side. Kor had not been found yet; Torn didn't know where to look for him, Kor was always so secretive from everyone, the only place Torn thought he could be was the Power Station but he wasn't there. Errol wanted Torn to tell them where the hideout was and the Baron almost agreed, but Torn reminded him that he just asked for one underground member and if he told them where the hideout was then he would have handed the entire underground over to them and that was something he wouldn't do.

One day Torn was just sitting next to Ashelin, hoping that she would wake up soon. The Baron walked in and looked at him. The two didn't say anything to each other for a long moment. Finally the Baron said something, "There's one thing that's been bothering me," Torn looked at him, "what did Kor do to you to make you so mad?"

Torn looked at him, confused, he opened his month but no words came out, he didn't want to tell the Baron the many things that Kor had done in the past and he found what he wanted to say, "What do you mean? He nearly killed Ashelin, what more reason do I need?"

The Baron shook his head, "No, there's more to it than that, you gave up his name without any thought; are you telling me that if anyone else in the underground had done this, you would have handed him in? Let's say that the one who attacked her was a close friend or a brother would you have still given me his name without a thought?"

Torn looked back at Ashelin, "But he wasn't my friend, not after what he did."

"So he did do something to you."

Torn couldn't bring himself to speak for a moment, he shut his eyes tight, "Yes."

"What was it?"

Torn sighed, "He let one of my closest friends die."

"What do you mean?"

Torn looked at Ashelin, "Kor joined the underground with another man named of Victor, he became close to my friend. And then one day, he led her out to Dead Town alone. I went out there looking for them and when I got there I found Kor just watching Victor attack her. He claimed that he just found them fighting but I've never believed it. I know that he had something to do with it and the next thing I knew Victor had killed one of my closet friends."

"And what became of this Victor?" The Baron asked.

"… I killed him." He looked at the Baron as if waiting for the Baron to arrest him for murder.

"What did you do with the body?"

"I threw it into the water in Dead Town; you wouldn't find anything left of him by now. You're going to put me away for murder now aren't you?"

The Baron smiled, "No, I said if you give me the name of the man that attacked my daughter then I would forgive all your past crimes. You can think what you will of me, but I am a fair man who keeps his word." He smiled wider, "Besides, what do I care about what befalls underground members?" Torn glared at him and the Baron chuckled, "So you hold Kor responsible for the death of your friend but if you didn't trust him then why did you let him stay?"

"It wasn't my choice; I was the only one who didn't trust him. However the Shadow thought that he could be useful as a baby-sitter." Torn shook his head, "What a load of shit, he never cared about the boy or about…" Torn stopped, Keira had to stay a secret from the Baron, "any of us." Torn smiled a little, "That… little dog, cared more than Kor ever did." The smile fell from his face, "He didn't attack Ashelin to keep the kid safe, he did it just because he could."

"Where is the boy?" The Baron asked, Torn looked at him. "You have to tell me, I need to know that he's safe."

"Even if I knew where he was, that is one thing I would never tell you. And why do you care if he's safe? You want him dead, don't you?"

"No." The Baron simply said, "I haven't been looking for him just so I could kill him." Torn face turned to one of surprise. "I've been looking for him because I told his father that I would find him. I could never hurt that boy." Torn looked at the Baron like he was looking at an entirely different person. He was about to say something when Ashelin let out a bit of a groan. The two men looked at her,

"Ashelin?" The Baron said, "Ashelin, please look at me." He said.

Ashelin opened her eyes a bit and looked at her father, "… Dad?" She smiled at him.

"Ashelin, I'm here." He pulled her in to a hug.

"I should have known that you couldn't ever hurt Mar." Ashelin said as she hugged her father back. The Baron smiled, knowing that she had heard what he had said.

"Ashelin." Torn said.

She looked at him, "Torn? What are you doing here?" She asked.

The Baron let Ashelin go and looked to the doorway; there was a guard standing there waiting for him.

Without another word to either of them, he left them alone. Once they were alone, Torn took Ashelin into his arms and she wrapped her arms around him. "I've missed you," he said, "so much."

"I've missed you too." She pulled away from him, "But what are you doing here? What's going on, what's happened? Where's Mar?"

"Ashelin, calm down. One of the underground members attracted you; he nearly beat you to death." Torn looked away from her, feeling a bit ashamed, "I betrayed the underground… I did it to protect you."

"I know," Ashelin said, "I wish you hadn't."

"I did it for you but now they all know, so I handed myself in."

"What?!"

"And your father said that if I told him the name of the man that had attacked you, then he would over-look my past crimes."

He looked at her and wasn't surprised to see that she looked confused and a bit disappointed in him,

"And you did, didn't you? You handed in one of your _friends_ for me."

"I did give a name, but the man that attacked you was not one of _my_ friends. The man that attacked you, is someone I held responsible for the death of a friend of mine."

"So it wasn't just because of me?"

"No."

"Okay, but what about Mar? Where is he?"

"I don't know where Kor's taken him." He said, still refusing to look at her.

"I just hope he's alright." She made him look at her, "Why didn't you tell me that he was with the underground? Why didn't you tell me he was okay?"

"I couldn't, I wanted to. But I… just couldn't. He was too important to the underground that no one could know."

She smiled, "I understand."

They hugged again, "I'm just glad you're alright." Torn said.

"And I'm glad you're here." She smiled at him, "And I'm glad that you and my father can be in the same room and not kill each other." The two started to laugh a little, happy that they could be together again.

It was another few days before the Baron would let Ashelin get out of bed and walk around, but he wouldn't let her go to work or even leave the palace. She didn't like this but it did give her a chance to talk to her father- something that she hadn't really been able to do in months.

The two were in the throne room, just sitting on the steps that led up to the throne. They talked about random things; Ashelin wanted to talk to him about everything he had done this past year, but for the first time in months she felt like she was talking to her father, not the Baron, and she didn't want to kill the happy feeling they both felt as they talked. But they couldn't avoid it forever and Ashelin was glad it was her father who brought up what they really needed to talk about.

He looked away from her and frowned a bit, "Ashelin, I think it's about time I tell you why I've done everything I have." He said.

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

The Baron shook his head, "I don't think we'll get another chance to talk about this."

Ashelin sighed, "Alright. I'm listening."

The Baron told her just about everything; the fact that he didn't want to exile Damas, or have Molly die or lose Mar. He told her that most of the city was starting to turn on Damas anyways and it was only going to be a matter of time before the people started their own revolution. He didn't tell her about his deal with the metal-heads but he did tell her about how he planned to use the Precursor stone and a bomb to destroy the Metal-heads once and for all. He even told her about the Dark Warrior program and told her that Jak was the result of it and that ever since he broke out of prison he had been looking for him to kill him as revenge for it.

Ashelin had just listened all this time, but now she needed to ask some questions, "Where did you even get that project in the first place- where did it come from?"

"I bought the project not long before Damas and Molly got married, I bought it from a man who claimed that he was from the Brink."

Ashelin looked at him confused, "The Brink? But you always told me that was just an old children's tale."

"I know, but the city needed that project and in the grand scheme of things it really didn't seem all that important where he got it from. The man I bought it from said that he and the dark eco sage built it because they were fighting their own war. The man said that it worked and once it was put together the man disappeared. I didn't think it mattered much. And then later we found Jak.

"How long was he on that project for?" Ashelin asked, doing her best to hide the fact of how she feels on this horrific subject.

"About two years, he's the only one who survived."

"How many people did you put on it?"

"Only five." He sighed, "It was probably for the best that it didn't work anyways."

"Why?"

"Because if it had worked I would have used it on all the guards." He looked away from his daughter,

"Even you."

"WHAT!?" She exclaimed, standing up and glaring at her father.

"I know it would be wrong, but I thought if the project worked then we could destroy the Metal-heads once and for all."

"You've always been obsessed with the war dad, and **look **what it's done to you."

"I know, I'm not proud of what I've become. But this plan will work; the stone has a great amount of energy stored in it, and once the bomb goes off the stone will crack open, release that energy."

"But how will that kill the metal-heads?" Ashelin asked.

"When the energy is released it will over-take the nest. That much run away energy will destroy the metal-heads once and for all." The Baron explained.

"But what's going happen when the wave of energy leaves the nest and comes for the city?"

"The nest is far away from the city, Ashelin. The energy will disperse before it reaches the city."

"You sound so sure…"

"That's because I am sure. And once the metal-head problem is done with, then I can turn my full attention to getting rid of Jak."

"Why can't you leave him alone dad?" Ashelin asked, "You've been trying to get along with Torn, why can't you do that with Jak? And to be fair, with what you done to him, I don't blame him for hating you."

The Baron looked at his daughter, "I can't do that, Ashelin. Think about every one he's killed, everything he's done. I can't just let him go. Besides, if I don't get rid of him, he'll try to get rid of me."

"I can't say that I blame him for wanting revenge." Ashelin said, looking away from her father. "But he's just one man, he can't get to you and eventually he'll give up. I've known him for just a few months now and he's changed; not much, but he's not nearly as bad as he was when I met him."

"He won't stop until I'm gone and then when that happens, he'll most likely go after the rest of the city. He doesn't care about anyone; he's only interested in his own ends. I had to fight him for the stone, why do you think that is?"

"He doesn't trust you to use it to save everyone." Ashelin said, smirking a bit.

Her father also smiled a bit, "If only that was it."

"What'd you mean? There's nothing else to it. I know he cares about the city."

"How? Tell me a one time he's shown that he really does care about anyone but himself."

Ashelin thought, "You know when that tanker crashed into the Bazaar a while ago?"

"Yes?"

"Jak showed up there just before the tanker showed up. If he hadn't, I don't know what would have happened."

The Baron looked at his daughter and smirked, raising his brow, "Jak just showed up did he? Right when you needed him."

"Yes, he got there just before the tanker showed up."

"Little convenient don't you think?"

"What are you saying?" She asked, not liking where this was going.

"Come on Ashelin, you're smarter than this. When do people just show up out of nowhere right when you need them to?"

"Are you saying Jak was there to seem innocent?"

"It would make sense..."

"So you're implying that _Jak_ is working for the metal-heads?"

"Think about it Ashelin; he just as much of a monster as the metal-heads, it would fit that he works for them."

"But it doesn't." She said, glaring at him, "Everything he's done, everything the underground has been doing, has just been to try to save the city. We've all been trying to do the same thing, but because _you_ won't listen to anyone else and have to do it _your_ way the city's **still** a mess!" She was nearly yelling at him, letting out the frustration she had been bottling up for a while. "And also this thought you have about Jak working for the metal-heads is a load of shit that I won't believe until you can tell me something that would _really _point to that!"

The Baron just looked at her, "Feel better now?" He asked, almost smiling.

Ashelin didn't say anything for a moment, she didn't even look at him, but she did glance at him from the corner of her eye and half smiled, "A little."

"Good, maybe now you'll let me tell why I believe what I do." Ashelin just looked at her father, daring him to give some reason why Jak would work for the metal-heads. The Baron also looked at her, "Now first of all, there is the fact of his dark powers."

"Which you where responsible for." She added.

The Baron just continued as if she hadn't said anything, "He's only interested in his own ends, he cares for no one else. I'm sure if he got the chance he would kill you without another thought."

"He had plenty of opportunities to kill me and he's never tried. And I know there are people he cares about."

"Alright then," The Baron said, just looking at her, "What about this; I know he's working for a man that I know, for a fact, is working with the metal-heads."

"What? Who?"

"Krew."

"The crime lord? How do you know he's working with the metal-heads? And if you know, then why haven't you done anything to stop him?"

"I know because I had Errol go to the Hip Hog and spy. The only reason I haven't dealt with it is because I needed him, he's the one who made the bomb. But once this is all over then I will arrest Krew and everyone else working for him. Krew and Jak are working together; Krew told me himself that he had Jak go down to the sewers and find Mar's old statue."

"You mean that statue that Damas wanted to go find when you guys where kids? It's been down in the sewers this whole time?"

The Baron cracked a smile, "Yeah."

"At least someone found it." Ashelin said, leaning back a little, "But why did Krew have Jak go find it?"

"Because in the statues' hand is the key to the city. Because of Jak, Krew has it; Ashelin do you know what Krew could do with that key?"

"He could open the tunnels."

"Yes, the wall is going to fall and if Krew uses that key to open them the Metal-heads will get in. And if the wall completely falls then there will be no stopping them. And it will be Jak's fault."

Ashelin looked at her feet, "Because he's the one who got the key in the first place…"

"Yes."

"But still he might not know what that key can do."

"Even so, he tried to stop me from getting the stone; if he had won, then I'm prepared to bet that the Metal-heads would already be in the city. Do you see now, Ashelin? He's working to undermine the city for the Metal-Heads."

"I don't know what to believe." Ashelin said, "I don't want to believe it."

The Baron put his arm around her, "I know."

They were quiet for a moment and then Ashelin smiled, "You know Jak wouldn't have been able to get the key if you and Molly just agreed to go with Damas to look for the statue." The Baron looked at her and slowly smiled and then he started to laugh. Ashelin couldn't help herself and started to laugh as well.

**Jet: Well that's it, just one more chapter to go.**

**Penny: You really think you can just leave it there?**

**Jet: What do you mean?**

**Penny: You want to bright something up, I know it.**

**Jet: Okay you're right, and here it is. Has anyone even realized that Ashelin never had one scene with the Baron? We never saw them talk to each other, ever. So we never saw what they were like when they were together and also we don't know how Ashelin reacted when she found out that her father was dead. The only thing we know is that she was somewhere with Torn when the Baron died and we know this because right after the Baron dies and Jak has the stone both Ashelin and Torn call him and you want to know what's really sad about that, Ashelin has no idea what happen just before she called Jak. all she knows is the Metal-heads have gotten into the city.**

**Penny: … That is really sad when you think about it.**

**Jet: yep. So anyways to the next chapter we go.**

**Penny: JET!**


	13. Truth

Chapter 13: Truth

**Jet: Okay, I know I said this was going to be the last chapter, but I lied.**

**Jak: What?**

**Jet: Sorry, but I just couldn't get everything into this chapter. Also I've been having it a bit rough lately.**

**Penny: What's wrong?**

**Jet: Tell ya later.**

Jak was walking up the stairs to the Keira's garage. Daxter jumped off his shoulder and looked up at him, "I'll just wait out here." He said, going over to sit under a bush.

Jak walked into the garage, "Keira," he called, "Are you here?" No answer. "Keira, come on, I know you're here, we need to talk." Again no answer. He turned around and started to walk out when he heard the curtain move. He looked to see Keira standing there looking at him, her arms crossed and looking away from him.

Jak walked over to her, so now he was standing right in front of her. The two looked at each other for a moment before- "I'm sorry." They both said at the same time; they both looked at each other, confused, "What?"

"I'm sorry about what I said and for walking out like that. It was stupid." Jak said.

Keira looked at him, "Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't said what I said. I know things have been hard for you and I never should have said that," she looked away from him, "and I'm sorry."

Jak pulled her into a hug, "It's okay." Keira hugged him back. They pulled apart and Jak just looked at her, "What have you heard?"

"About you?" She asked, "What does it matter?"

"Because you believe it."

"I don't know what to believe anymore. Things have just been… strange. I don't like it here Jak, I want to go home."

Jak just looked at her, "I know, I do too; I want things to go back to the way they were before all this happened." He looked at his hand and he clenched it into a fist knowing that things were never going to go back to the way they use to be. He shut his eyes tight, "I wish Daxter and I had never gone to Misty Island that night. What makes it worse is it was my idea to go there in the first place."

Keira grabbed his fist and he looked at her, "Jak, if you hadn't gone there that night then you-"

"I know; I wouldn't have been able to stop Gol and Maia. But now… now I'm no better than what they became."

Keira just looked at him, "What are you talking about? No matter what you've done or what you've become, you're still better than them."

Jak looked at her, "Keira, you haven't even seen my dark side."

"Then let me see."

Jak's eyes widened, "What!? No!"

"Jak, let me see; I'm sick of hearing what everyone else says, I want to see it for myself."

"Keira…"

"Jak, I'm going to see it at some point anyways. You might as well show me now."

Jak just looked at her, "Alright." He took a few steps away from her and changed. Keira took a step back as Jak looked at her with pure black eyes, "Keira…" he reached out to her and she saw his long black claws, she couldn't help but to curl away for him a bit cautiously as he touched her shoulder, "Keira, it's still me."

"I know, but…" She turned away from him, "I need a moment- I'm sorry." She started to walk away from him.

"Keira wait." He reached out to grab her shoulder but instead his claws cut her skin and she cried out. Jak's eyes widened as he saw her blood begin to spill from the shallow gashes that were now on the back of her shoulder, "Keira," she looked at the dark elf grabbing her bleeding shoulder, "I'm sorry!" he said, "I didn't-"

His apology was cut off by her holding up a hand, "It's okay," She said as tears begin to fill her eyes, "just please, change back to normal."

He hugged her as he changed back to normal, "I'm so sorry." He looked at her, "Are you alright?" He asked.

She pulled away from him, "I'll live." She walked over to the shelves and moved most of the stuff around; she pulled out a first aid kit and opened it up. She put it on the table and pulled out some bandages, she looked at Jak, "Can you help me with this?" She asked.

She wiped away her tears as Jak walked over to her, "Yeah, sure." She started to take off her shirt and Jak just looked at her, "ah… what are you doing?" He asked.

"Well you're not really going to be able to put the bandages on with my shirt in the way, are you?"

Jak just looked at her, unsure of how to answer that wisely. "Are you sure you want me to help you with this?"

"Jak, grow up." She said, turning her back to him, "It's not like this is the first time you've seen me without a shirt," she smiled and chuckled a bit, "I mean, we use to take baths together, for crying out lode."

"Yeah," Jak said, "when we were **three**." Keira laughed as she turned her back to him and leaned against the work bench. Jak started to wrap the bandages around her. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. You can stop apologizing." The smile fell from her face, "It was my own fault this happened anyways."

Jak tightened the bandages and looked at her, confused, "Your fault? I'm the one who hurt you, how is this your fault?" He asked.

She turned around so she was looking at him, "I asked you to show me your dark side, and even though I knew it was you, I was still scared. If I hadn't asked you to do that this wouldn't have happened."

Jak just looked at her, "Either way, I should have been more careful. I'm sorry."

Keira just smiled, "Don't be, you didn't get me that bad, I most likely won't even get a scar."

Jak was about to say something when his communicator went off. He reached into his bag and pulled it out. Torn's voice come through it, "Jak, just got a call from Vin; something at the strip mine has got him in a panic. Head over to the power station and see what's going on." And with that he hung up, not giving Jak and chance to argue.

Jak looked at Keira who smiled, "Just go, I'm sure we'll talk more before the class one race."

"Keira, are you sure you're alright?" He asked as she pulled her tank-top back on.

"Yes, I'm fine, now get going." Jak looked at her and then he walked out. Keira just smiled softly as she watched him go.

Later that night, Keira was sitting in her house in her night dress, she was just about to go to bed when there was a knock at the door. She went to the door and opened and found Errol standing there, "Errol? What are you doing here?" She could smell alcohol in his breath.

Errol walked in and sat down on the couch, "Am I not allowed to come see you at your house?"

Keira closed the door and looked at him, "Well, you don't normally come to my house. I honestly didn't think you knew where it was."

Errol sat down on the sofa and put his feet up on the nearby table, "I didn't, I had to do a little digging to find you."

"Well what do you want?" Keira asked; she really wanted Errol to leave.

"I want you to convince Jak to drop out of the class one race."

Keira started to laugh, "You're drunk." She said, "Or are you really that afraid of finally losing?"

Errol also started to laugh, "Actually, I'm trying to do you a bit of a favor." He got up and walked closer to Keira; she backed away a little, her back now resting on the door. "I could have arrested Jak and dragged him back to prison when we were in your garage before the class two race; but I didn't because of you." Keira couldn't take the smell of Errol's breath but she couldn't get away from it. "The Baron will be at the class one race and if he sees Jak there… well, there will be nothing I can do."

Keira couldn't take the smell any more. She opened the door and Errol fell out of the house landing in the street, he glared at Keira. "First of all," Keira said, "I have no control over what Jak does. He'll do whatever he wants. And second, you and the Baron will never get him and he will beat you in the race next week, I guarantee it." Errol just looked at her, "I don't want anything more to do with you, Errol. Just leave me alone."

Keira began to shut the door but Errol got up and grabbed the door before she could lock it. He forced the door open and grabbed Keira, "I've been more then nice to you over the last two years. If I hadn't found you, you would have died on the streets. I found you and gave you a place to live." He grabbed her arms so she couldn't get away, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have you're little garage."

Keira struggled out of Errol's grip, "Get out of my house!" She yelled.

Errol slapped her across the face, "How dare you talk to me that way. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have this house. I've never asked for anything from you, and this is the way you repay me?" He grabbed her arm again, "I've put up with your shit long enough, I think it's time I taught you a lesson."

He dragged her down the hall and opened the door to her room. Keira struggled to try to get out of his grip. Errol threw her onto the bed and she looked at him, "Errol, please don't do this." She begged. Errol didn't say a word as he came closer to Keira. Keira closed her eyes as if that would just make him go away but she felt him grab her again. Keira started to cry, just knowing what was going to happen and wished that this was just a bad dream.

Just as Errol began to pull on Keira's night gown his communicator went off and he had to answer. He got off the bed and moved away from Keira, who was now curled up on the bed crying as she heard the Baron's voice, "Errol, where the hell are you?!" He asked.

"I'm-" He said.

"I don't care! Have you found Kor yet?" He asked.

"No."

"Oh, then you **must** be at the strip mine."

Errol just looked at the communicator, "Why would I be there sir?" He asked.

"Oh, no reason… just the matter of there being word that **Jak** is there!" The Baron yelled, "Get your ass over there NOW!"

Errol hung up the communicator and looked at Keira who was still crying and shaking on the bed. He smiled at her, "I'll be back later." He said as he walked out.

Keira just laid there alone in the dark, crying about what had almost happened. She was scared; what was going to happen when Errol came back? She grabbed her communicator and thought about calling Jak and telling him what had just happened. But she couldn't; Jak had enough to worry about as it was, and- being that he was in some trouble himself at the moment- he had saved her without even knowing it. But still, she didn't want to be alone right now. So she called Tess, who picked up, "Hello?"

"Hi Tess." Keira said, still crying.

"Keira, what's wrong?" Tess asked, concerned.

"I'll tell you later, but right now can you come over to my place? I can't be alone right now."

"I'm on my way." Tess said.

About forty-five minutes later Tess was walking into Keira's house. She found Keira still in her room. She had stopped crying but she was still shaking, "Keira, what happened?!" She asked as she came to sit next to her. Keira sat up and looked at Tess and then she hugged her as she started to cry again. Tess hugged Keira back, now taking note of the bandages that covered her shoulder, seeing that the she-elf need some form of comfort, "Keira, tell me what happened."

Keira looked at her, "Errol… Errol was here."

Tess' eyes narrowed, "What did he do?" She asked.

"He… he almost…" Keira couldn't bring herself to say it.

"He almost did what? Did he try to hurt you?"

"He almost raped me!" Keira half yelled.

"He what?!" Tess asked, her eyes widening in shock. "Oh Keira…" Tess hugged her tighter as Keira continued to cry. Tess got off the bed and started to drag Keira along with her, "Come on, you need to get out of this room." Keira let Tess lead her back to the living room and Keira sat down on the couch. Tess smiled comfortingly at Keira, "You know what- you need some tea."

"I don't have any." Keira said as she pulled a blanket around herself, "But I do have some cocoa mix in the cupboard."

"That will work." Tess said as she walked to kitchen, "I'll be right back." She came back with two mugs of hot cocoa and she handed one to Keira who took it. The two just sat there, drinking the cocoa, until Tess spoke, "Feeling better?" She asked, when Keira put down the mug.

"A little." Keira said, forcing herself to smile.

"Good." Tess said, now grinning from ear to ear. "So, what happened to your shoulder? Did Errol do that too?"

"What? No." Keira said, looking at her shoulder as Tess took another drink. "This was from Jak when-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off by Tess choking slightly on the cocoa, "WHAT?!" She sputtered, coughing a bit.

"It was an accident, he didn't mean to." Keira quickly said.

"Okay. What happened?"

"Jak stopped by my garage to apologize for what happened before the class two race and we started talking and his dark side was bought up and I told him that I wanted to see it for myself so he showed me. And I got scared, I turned away from him and he went to grab my shoulder and he ended up cutting me instead."

Tess just listened, "Keira, have you… told Jak what Errol tried to do to you?"

"NO!" Keira snapped, "And Tess _please_ don't tell him. I'll tell him at some point but right now he's got enough to worry about without adding my problems to it."

Tess looked at her sadly, "Keira, he cares about you a lot. Errol was in the Hip Hog a little while back and he challenged Jak to a race through the city. I don't know if Jak was really going to race him but once Errol brought you into it, Jak jumped right into racing him."

"How was I brought into it?"

"Errol said that you thought Jak was a loser."

"That's a lie."

"I know." The two went quiet for a second as Tess drank her cocoa. She looked back at Keira who still had a blanket wrapped around herself, "You know you can't stay here. Errol will just come back."

"I know," Keira said, pulling the blanket tighter around herself and shutting her eyes. "but I don't have anywhere else to go."

"What about the hideout?" Tess asked, "Errol won't find you there."

Keira thought about it; her younger self was there and she didn't think that she could look at that little girl again; she couldn't keep pretending to be her mother. But what choice did she have? "You're right." Keira packed some clothes and put on a jacket, and her and Tess walked to the hideout.

They walked in and found Jak sleeping in one of the beds, Daxter seemed to have fallen onto the floor. Tess smiled, picked him up and placed him on the bed next to Jak's where he just continued to sleep. Keira just looked at Jak and smiled. She would most likely never tell Jak or anyone what Errol had nearly done to her, but really he didn't need to know. She smiled at him as Tess led her down the hall,

Tess opened a door, "You can sleep in my old room."

Keira looked at her, "But then where are you going to sleep?"

"I have to get back to Hip Hog. I've been sleeping there."

"Well okay. Thanks Tess."

Tess started to walk away, "Not a problem." Keira walked into the room and finally went to bed. It had been a very long night.

When Jak found Keira in the hideout the next morning he was confused, "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Oh, um…" Keira didn't know what to tell him, "Well… see… I have a pest problem at my house, and I just can't be there."

Jak and Daxter looked at her, "A pest problem huh?" Daxter asked, "You know I used to work with for an exterminator company. I could give them a call and see if they'd help you out."

"No thanks, I've already taken care of it. Besides I didn't really like that house anyways." She smiled, "Why do you think I spend so much time in my garage?"

Jak looked at Daxter, "I didn't know you were an exterminator."

"What did you think I did when you were in prison?" Daxter asked.

Jak just shrugged and then he looked back at Keira, "How's your shoulder?" He asked.

"Fine." She looked away from him, "look, I'm sure you have something you need to do for the underground and I've got to get to my garage."

"Actually," Daxter said, "with tattoo-face missing, we don't seem to have anything to do."

"Well, then do you want to come with me?" She asked.

"Why not." Jak said, "I could get some practice in for the race."

"That might be a good idea." Keira said.

"Well then what are we standing around here for?" Daxter asked, "Let's go!"

The week seemed to go by fast. Jak and Daxter didn't have anything to do so they just helped Keira in her garage. In truth, Keira was glad they were there; she felt safe knowing that Jak was there if Errol showed his face. However, she did have to deal with them constantly asking about what was behind her curtain; she wouldn't show them yet, however, if she was going to get it done she was going to have to tell them soon.

The day of the final race came; Jak, Keira and Daxter were already in the garage standing in front of the curtain when Samos walked in, "Daddy," Keira said, surprised to see her father, "What are you doing here?"

"Today is an important day." He said.

"Why?" Daxter asked. Samos didn't answer.

"Well, anyways," Keira said, "like I was saying, I'll show you guys what I've been working on if you promise not to laugh." She glared at Jak.

"Oh, I love surprises." Daxter said, "And I love to laugh. Show me, show me."

Keira pulled back the curtain, "I've been building a replica of our crashed rife rider from old artifacts."

"That's my girl." Samos said, proudly.

"But I'm still missing two pieces."

"Figures." Samos muttered.

"Vin says I need an artifact called '_The Time Map_' and an old energy gem history books call '_The Heart of Mar_' and I've looked in every book on Precursor history I could find, but the rift ring seemed to have vanished."

"You did all this on your own?" Jak asked.

"Yep, it's taken me a long time but if we can find those last pieces we can go home."

"And by '_we_' you mean Jak and I are going to have to find them right?" Daxter asked.

Keira just looked at him with a smile and then Jak spoke, "I've seen The Heart of Mar, Krew has it. We'll get those artifacts Keira."

A robotic female voice came over the speakers, "Attention all drivers, the class one race is about to begin."

Jak looked back at Keira and her father, "Well, here it goes, the race of my life."

"Jak," Keira said, he looked at her, "I just want you to know, well… _you're_ the best racer I've ever seen."

Jak smiled and then Daxter cut in, "Hey! What about me? I helped get us here."

"You want to drive?" Jak asked.

"Against that crazy loon Errol? No way!" Daxter said, "You've got the handle bars brother. And you better keep us alive or I won't ever speak to you again. Obviously."

Keira couldn't help but to smile, "Leave them in the dust, Jak." She said. Jak smiled at her again as Daxter jumped up onto his shoulder and then he walked out.

Much later that night in the underground hideout, the younger Keira was playing with Mutt in her room. Even though Mar was still missing, Keira still had Mutt to play with so she at least wasn't lonely. She happily played with the puppy until her father ran into the room and picked her up, "Daddy?" She asked.

"Shhh Keira." Samos said as he ran out of the hideout, Mutt following them. Samos ran to the cruiser waiting outside. Mutt was just able to jump in as it started to take off.

Keira looked over the sides and saw creatures that she had never seen before, "Daddy, what they?" She asked.

Samos didn't tell her what they were; she didn't need to know what a Metal-head was, not yet. "Keira, keep you head down." He said. Keira did as she was told.

Do to the late hour, Keira had fallen asleep by the time they had reached the stadium, thankfully there were no Metal-heads there… yet. Samos picked up the toddler and Mutt jumped out of cruiser and followed him to where the older Keira and the older Samos stood in front of the rift rider.

"Daddy," the older Keira said, "Are you sure the ring is in the Metal-head nest?"

"Keira for the fifth time, yes, I am positive that's where it is."

"Okay, but if you knew this then why didn't you tell me sooner? We're going to need a plan; I mean, from what I know, nobody has ever gotten into the nest before."

"Don't worry Keira, we don't need a plan. You keep forgetting that -for us- this has all happen before. Everything will work out the way it's meant to."

The two looked to see their younger selves and Mutt there. Keira looked away from her younger self as the younger Samos set her down in the rift rider as she slept on. The older Keira started to act like she was still tweaking a few things on the rider but really there was nothing for her to do. The two Samoses walked away from the rider a bit, "What is going on?" the younger one asked, "What is that thing? Or are you not going to tell me that either?"

The older Samos just looked at his younger self, "That is the rift rider, Keira built it. Though I guess in your sense she _will _build it."

"What?" The younger one asked.

"Never mind, the point is that we need to get this to the Metal-head nest."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Don't worry I've taken care of it." The older Samos pointed to a lurker.

The younger Samos looked at him, "How is he going to help?"

"He's going to let us use a balloon."

The younger Samos looked at the rift rider where his daughter slept, "You want us to use a lurker balloon to transport that-" he pointed to the rift rider, "-to the Metal-head nest and you thought it was a good idea for me to bring my daughter on this suicide mission?"

"Would you rather she stays here, where the Metal-heads are attacking? This has all happened before; I give you my word that everything will be fine." The younger Samos sighed in annoyance.

Mutt was sitting next to Keira as she pretended to work. His ears perked up as he heard someone else coming; he looked around and saw Jak. Mutt ran up to the teen and started to jump around happy to see him. Keira looked around and saw Jak almost crack a smile as he patted the hyper dog on the head. Keira stood up as Jak and Daxter came up to her, "The rift rider's finished," she said, "but if my father's right and the ring is somewhere in the Metal-head nest, how are we going to get the rift rider there to use it?"

The purple lurker suddenly appeared from behind the rift rider, "LOOK!" he yelled, pointing to the sky, "Brutter just knew friends would need lift if Metal-headers attacked." He said as a lurker balloon landed on the other side of the stadium.

"Brutter you the man." Daxter said, happily.

"Lurker balloons are finest lifters in world, but they's easy target." Brutter explained.

"Right," Jak said, "you guys get the rift rider to the nest, I'll stay here and defend you're take off and get away."

"Once again being your friend SUCKS!" Daxter said, crossing his arms, "I wanted to go on the balloon..."

Brutter looked at the ottsel, "You keep stadium safe while we prep balloon for lift away." Out of the corner of his eye Brutter saw Metal-heads begin to make their way into the stadium. "Oh no, here they come, METAL-HEADERS!"

Everyone looked back to see the Metal-heads approaching, Jak looked at Keira, "Get in the rider." She didn't argue. Daxter jumped onto Jak's shoulder and Mutt stood next to him growling at the coming Metal-heads.

The two Samoses used their green eco energy to lift the rift rider and began to carry it to the balloon. Jak shot down the oncoming Metal-heads. Mutt ran at a stinger and began to fight with it. He grabbed its tail swung it violently; Mutt threw it at a nearby tree and ran to catch up with Jak.

When they got to the other end of the stadium the path there was covered in Metal-head bodies and their purple blood stained the ground where they lied. Mutt stood next to Jak growling at the dead Metal-heads daring them to get up. Jak watched as the balloon started to take off, "Must be nice floating away while we **die** down here." Daxter said.

"We'll meet near the nest." Keira said, "Be careful Jak."

"Yeah _Jak_," Daxter said, "be careful."

The balloon floated out of sight and Jak began to head for the port. However, he didn't get very far before his communicator when off. The screen was blurry but the speakers worked just fine and Vin's voice came though, "Jak… Kor, construction… site." Both Jak and Daxter heard Vin give out a shaky exhale and then there was nothing. Jak and Daxter looked at each other. Jak hung up the communicator and put it back in his bag… there was nothing they could do for Vin now.

Jak took off heading for the construction site, Mutt fallowing close behind him. The city was in a state of panic. There were Metal-heads everywhere and Zoomers had been left abandoned, Jak took one of these, Mutt jumping onto the back, and sped down the street. Mutt was going to stay close to Jak for the pup had figured out something that no one else had and he was determined not to lose Mar again.

Jak reached the construction site in almost no time. Jak, Daxter and Mutt walked in without making a sound. They walked in and saw the Baron with some of his guards walking around; Jak almost smiled, the Baron only had about five guards with him. Jak could finally kill him.

Mutt stayed where he was as Jak made his way down to where the Baron was. Jak was about to attack when Kor dropped out of nowhere. Jak skidded to a stop, "Kor," Jak said, confused as the guards pointed their weapons at them, "what's going on?"

Kor looked at him, "I'm sure you know." Kor said, looking at Jak. The old man started to walk up to him, "Deep down in you darkest _**Nightmares**_." Both Jak and Daxter's eyes widened, not sure that they had seen; for a moment they both thought that Kor's teeth had turned into fangs and his pupils had become small- then he went back to normal with a smile on his face, "We've met before, remember?" Jak didn't know what he was talking about. Kor looked at the Baron, "Everything's going exactly as planned."

Jak, Daxter, the Baron and the guards just watched as Kor began to walk away from them, throwing his staff aside then suddenly long insect-like wings sprouted from Kor's back and he was lifted up into the air. His hand and arms turned blue and became far too big for his body and he also grew a long tail, "JAK," Daxter yelled, "It's the metal-head leader!"

In a blinding light Kor fully changed into his true form; Jak saw the Baron pull out a glowing green sword, ready for a fight. "Now you see," Kor said in a booming voice, "Without the shield wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am my full potential now. So, for the last time, give me the Precursor Stone!" Metal-Kor roared at the Baron.

Jak looked at the Baron to see what he was going to do. The Baron held his ground and looked up at the monster that stood before him. "If the city must die then we all die!" The Baron declared, raising his sword. This surprised Jak as the Baron and his men ran at Kor. However, the heroic moment was short lived. With one energy blast Metal-Kor shot the Baron and his men back into the wall, causing tubs of eco and random pieces of wood and metal to fall on them.

Mutt saw the whole thing from where he was and ran down to find the Baron in the debris. Kor again rose into the air and the monster exclaimed, "I will find that stone if I have to crush this city one brick at a time." And then he took off, vanishing in the storm clouds.

Mutt barked to get Jak's attention and Jak came running over; he lifted the metal slab that was crushing the Baron and Jak looked down at the man that he hated. Blood seeped from many deep cuts, "You are the supreme weapon Jak." The Baron said, his voice was becoming weak, "And I made you that way." Jak almost thought that he heard regret in the Baron's voice as he fell onto his back, "Still any leader worth his salt always has his backup plan." The Baron hit a button and something in the middle of the area started to move and a piercer bomb rose out of the ground, "Remember, the first rule in making a bomb is to always make… two." And with that the Baron fell, dead. Not by Jak's hand, but by the hand of the Metal-head leader.

Mutt looked at the Baron and started to whimper and then he gave a long sad howl. Jak didn't know why the pup was acting this way, as far as he knew the dog had nothing to do with the Baron, but right now Jak had more important things to worry about. He ran over to the bomb and looked at Daxter, "Okay," he said, jumping onto the bomb, "I'm going in."

Mutt just sat there next to the Baron's body as Jak and Daxter started to run away. Mutt got up and began to follow Jak. Jak looked down at the pup, "Stay boy." He said. Mutt sat down at looked up at him, "Stay." Jak ran out of the construction site, leaving Mutt sitting there.

Jak jumped back on the zoomer that was still sitting just outside and then his communicator went off again and this time it was Ashelin's voice he heard, "I think now's the time to attack, the Metal-heads are so focused on attacking the city they may have left their nest vulnerable."

Jak was about to say something when Torn's voice cut him off, "Jak, you got to get out to wasteland and breach the nest barrier any way you can."

"Fine," Jak said, "But Ashelin, you have to get to the construction site now." Jak didn't say anything else and hung up.

After she talked with Jak, Ashelin and Torn headed for the site, they both knew that the Baron was there and Ashelin was worried. When they got there they found Mutt still sitting at the base of the ramp, "Mutt?" She said, not sure if this really was the same croca-dog that would follow Mar everywhere. Mutt, happy to see a familiar face, stood up and ran to her. Ashelin knelt down and made to pat the dog but he grabbed onto her sleeve and started to pull. "What is it boy?" She asked. Ashelin, taking the hint, started to follow the dog, Torn right behind her.

Mutt led her to where her father's body lied. Ashelin froze. Her mouth slightly hung open in shock, "Father…?" She said, knowing that he would not respond to her. She knelt down, "Dad?" A few tears silently fell down her face. She hung her head and closed her eyes, not able to look at the corpse of her father.

Mutt looked up at her, his ears folded down and Torn put a comforting hand on her shoulder, not knowing what else to do, "I'm sorry." Was all he could say.

**Penny: Well that was less than cheerful.**

**Jet: I know.**

**Jak: So what's been going on with you, Jet?**

**Jet: Well, I got a new job and I hate it. It just seems like I can't do anything right. And I just don't feel like I'm wanted and then I go on vacation down in Tennessee and like last year I hurt myself tubing.**

**Penny: How did you that this year? **

**Jet: Well I was trying to ride on my knees and then my dad drove into a wake and I went flying off the tube. I hit the water and bounced off the surface and then splashed into the water.**

**Penny: Ow.**

**Jet: Yeah, and then the same day I did that, I was cutting carrots for dinner and I sliced my thumb. I just got the top layer of skin, it wasn't anything too bad, but it still hurt.**

**Jak (smirking): I love light eco.**

**Jet (Glaring): Shut up. Oh and before I get people telling me that Jak and just about everyone was acting like high school kids, let me point out that Jak, Daxter, Keira, Errol and –in my stories- Torn and Ashelin ARE ALL TEENAGERS! So yeah, needed to be pointed out. Next chapter.**


End file.
